BANCROFT 

LIBRARY 

<• 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


c 


TRAVELS  ABROAD: 


EMBRACING 


HOLL/ND,  ENGLAND,  BELGIUM,  FRANCE,  SANDWICH 
ISLANDS,  NEW  ZEALAND,  AUSTRALIA,  &c., 


WITH 


SOME  REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST. 


BY 

RICHARD    L.   MILLER. 


LYNCHBURG,  VA. : 
J.  P.  BELL  COMPANY,  STATIONERS  AND  PRINTERS. 

1891. 


1$  O  0 


CTo  i 

,  aftobe  anti  {jrgonlj  all  otfjers  tfy's  site  of  tfje  Setter  (Tountrg, 
tfjte  motest  bolume  is  trttcatetj 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  accompanying  letters  were  written  in  the  haste  inci- 
dent to  travel,  and  were  suggested  by  the  dear  ones  at  home, 
and  by  such  friends  as  few  men  may  claim ;  and  for  their  own 
sakes,  and  as  a  tribute  to  them,  this  modest  volume  is  submitted. 
There  has  rarely  been  an  occasion  in  which  a  newspaper  cor- 
respondent should  be  impelled  to  utter  his  thoughts  in  book 
form.  This  is  not  done  in  this  instance  with  a  view  of 
immortality  as  a  book-maker,  but  to  gratify  the  dear  ones  in 
the  home  circle  and  the  personal  friends  heretofore  alluded  to. 

The  writer  has  endeavored  to  portray  things  as  they  ap- 
peared to  him.  In  the  kaleidoscopic  views  it  may  be  that 
the  guide-books  have  been  intrenched  upon,  but  I  trust  the 
substance  of  the  book  will  be  recognized  as  my  own. 

The  subjoined  letters  are  published  in  this  form,  and  ad- 
dressed to  my  elder  boy,  Kenneth,  for  reasons  that  will  be 
understood  by  every  father. 

R.  L.  MILLER. 

Lynchburg,  September,  1891. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER   I. 

"SEEING  THE  ELEPHANT"  AND  VIEWING  THE  SUSPENSION 
BRIDGE  IN  NEW  YORK  —  ON  BOARD  THE  ETRURIA — A 

SQUALL  AND  ITS  RESULTS — SHORTEST  TIME   ON   RECORD 
— ARRIVAL  IN  LIVERPOOL. 

LIVERPOOL,  Sept.  7th,  1885. 
KENNETH  G.  MILLER: 

My  Dear  Boy — Soon  after  the  arrival  of  our  party 
in  New  York,  we  paid  a  visit  to  the  famous  suspen- 
sion bridge  connecting  that  city  with  Brooklyn.  Its 
immensity  can  only  be  understood  when  you  stand 
upon  its  highest  point  and  take  in  a  full  view  of  New 
York,  Brooklyn,  and  a  river  covered  with  vessels  of 
every  imaginable  character,  representing  almost  every 
civilized  nation  of  the  world,  and  where  your  view 
is  limited  only  by  the  capacity  of  human  vision.  We 
spent  two  hours  very  pleasantly  in  Central  Park  and 
in  the  Art  Gallery,  notwithstanding  our  innate  mod- 
esty received  something  of  a  shock  at  the  nudity  of 
the  statues  and  the  lack  of  drapery  on  the  most  pop- 
ular paintings — rendered  more  conspicuous,  indeed, 
by  their  absense.  On  the  following  day  we  "  took  in  " 
the  big  elephant.  I  but  state  a  positive  fact  when  I 


8  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

say  this  "  beast "  is  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet 
high,  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  fifty  feet  wide. 
The  "  Houda"  he  carries  on  his  back  is  about  twenty 
by  forty  feet,  and  perhaps  twenty  feet  high.  For  ten 
cents  we  gained  admittance  to  the  inside  of  the  Mas- 
todon, and  as  we  stepped  into  the  enclosure  our  eyes 
were  confronted  with  a  placard  :  "  Enter  by  the  leg 
only."  It  proved  to  be  the  left  behind  leg.  It  at 
once  occurred  to  me  what  a  treasure  this  leg  would 
be  to  some  friends  at  home  as  a  *'  luck  piece  "  to  be 
carried  around  in  the  pocket  with  toes  up.  After 
climbing  flight  after  flight  of  steps,  we  reached  a 
large  room  about  fifty  feet  square,  known  as  the  ball- 
room ;  we  then  passed  into  numerous  rooms,  each 
capable  of  accommodating  a  dozen  people  comforta- 
bly, in  the  hollow  of  each  of  the  Mastodon's  cheeks. 
I  have  forgotten  the  number  of  the  millions  of  feet 
of  lumber  and  hundreds  of  squares  of  tin  that  were 
used  in  its  construction.  One  of  its  feet — were  it 
capable  of  locomotion — would  cover  nearly  one-tenth 
of  the  three  unpaved  squares  on  "  Fifth  Avenue  " 
in  Lynchburg.  How  General  S.,  C.  &  F.  and  the 
Messrs.  K.  would  have  enjoyed  the  aquarium  build- 
ing. Almost  every  species  of  sea-fish  that  could  be 
seen  in  aquariums  about  two  by  four  feet,  supplied 
with  fresh  sea  water  through  pipes  which  sent  small 
streams  bubbling  through  each  of  these  receptacles. 

Embarking  on  that  floating  palace,  the  Cunard 
steamship  Etruria,  on  the  29th,  we  realized  as  she 
slowly  floated  seaward  that  we  were  indeed  off  for 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  9 

the  "  old  countree."  Promptly  at  11  A.  M.  services 
were  held  in  the  dining  saloon.  Never  before  did  I 
so  greatly  appreciate  the  beautiful  hymn  for  the  pre- 
servation of  those  "  who  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  " 
as  I  did  to  day.  As  the  sweet  tones  of  the  organ 
filled  the  immense  saloon  and  the  low-toned,  devout 
voices  joined  in  this  petition  to  God,  I  could  feel  the 
throbbing  of  the  engine,  the  rolling  of  the  ship,  and 
hear  the  continual  "  swish  "  of  the  water  as  it  glided 
rapidly  by.  Then,  and  only  then,  did  I  fully  realize 
what  a  dependent  creature  man  is,  how  infinitesimally 
small  he  can  at  such  times  feel  himself  to  be.  Not- 
withstanding this  is  the  sultry  month  of  August  at 
home,  we  are  having  an  admirable  illustration  of 
December  weather  here.  I  am  half  frozen  ;  the  pas- 
sengers on  deck  are  wrapped  in  heavy  overcoats,  and 
wear  a  blue,  pinched  look,  while  those  in  the  smoking 
room  are  steaming  up  with  hot  drinks.  We  made 
yesterday  472  nautical  miles  from  12  to  12  A.  M.,  at 
which  hour  the  distance  is  reckoned.  To-day's  log 
(31st)  says  430  knots  —  equal  to  508  land  miles. 
Major  S.  P.  EL  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  see  two 
whales  and  a  school  of  porpoises — a  privilege  denied 
his  companions.  Up  to  the  2d  of  September  I  had 
seen  no  case  of  sea-sickness,  but  felt  the  time  for  that 
would  inevitably  come,  and  when  old  ocean  begins  to 
stir  herself  there  would  be  a  "  casting  up  of  ac- 
counts." Our  vessel  is  almost  a  Great  Eastern  in  its 
dimensions,  and  would  require  a  more  than  ordinarily 
heavy  sea  to  materially  interfere  with  her  progress. 


10  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

At  2:30  P.  M.  a  large  sail  vessel  loomed  up  on  our 
larboard,  and  although  we  are  going  in  the  same 
direction,  the  Etruria  soon  left  her  behind. 

On  the  2d  we  came  through  a  booming  gale ;  the 
waves  were  about  the  size  of  Friends'  warehouse, 
and  the  hollows  between  as  deep  as  the  founda- 
tion of  the  new  government  building.  The  deck  of 
the  Etruria  sloped  about  as  greatly  as  Courthouse 
hill.  At  one  moment  it  would  face  due  north,  and 
the  next  due  south.  In  the  smoking  saloon  things 
were  of  a  lively  and  varied  character.  Ever  and 
anon,  spittoons,  camp-stools,  chess-men,  gin-slings, 
boys,  whiskey  toddies,  stewards  and  passengers  would 
be  all  in  a  pile  at  one  end  of  the  saloon,  and  the  next 
moment  they  would  radiate  to  the  four  corners  at  a 
2:40  gait.  A  young  man  came  whizzing  by  Captain 
Lee,  spun  across  the  saloon  and  brought  up  against 
the  other  side  of  it  with  a  horrible  gash  across  his 
head,  a  broken  arm,  and  a  bruised  body.  Captain 
Lee  started  to  his  relief  as  he  lay  on  the  floor,  and 
you  would  have  thought  he  had  been  fired  from  a 
catapult  if  you  could  have  seen  him  wrap  his  sound 
arm  around  a  pillar  in  the  centre  of  the  saloon,  while 
his  body  swung  straight  out,  and  then  downward, 
like  the  sweep  of  a  whip-lash,  and  there  he  "  an- 
chored." 

On  the  4th,  at  6  P.  M.,  the  Irish  coast  came  into 
full  view  on  our  left.  The  rugged  grandeur  of  its 
tall  rock  cliff  rising  abruptly  from  the  water  reminded 
me  forcibly  of  the  James  river  at  Balcony  Falls. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  11 

Just  in  front  of  the  position  of  our  ship,  a  mile  or 
more  from  the  coast  stood,  in  solitary  grandeur,  an 
immense  rock,  on  which  is  built  Facinet  lighthouse. 

Our  trip  has  been  the  quickest  ever  made  across 
the  Atlantic  by  about  two  hours.  Think  of  it,  ye 
Lynchburgers,  that  your  fellow-citizens  have  been 
participants  in  so  distinguished  an  honor.  Our  party 
have  all  proven  good  sailors.  Every  one  of  us,  with- 
out an  exception,  have  eaten  five  square  meals  every 
day.  True,  it  was  sometimes  attended  with  difficulty, 
as  we  had  to  watch  the  water  bottles,  salt  cellars, 
etc.,  as  they  flew  around  promiscuously.  We  could 
make  sure  only,  on  some  occasions,  of  such  things  as 
we  could  keep  our  fingers  on.  While  our  ship  was 
very  rapid  she  was  an  adept  at  "  rolling,"  and  sad 
havoc  was  wrought  among  our  passengers  on  the  2d 
and  3d  in  the  matter  of  "  casting  up  accounts."  Per- 
sonally, however,  in  this  connection  I  was  prepared 
to  exclaim,  Vedi,  vidi,  vici  ! 


12  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER  II. 

LOOKING  OVER  LIVERPOOL — CHARACTER  OF  THE  BUILDINGS 
— IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  PEOPLE — VISITS  A  TOBACCO  FAC- 
TORY IN  WHICH  THE  WEED  IS  COOKED— A  PROBLEM  IN 
FINANCE — CONVENIENCES  FOR  HUNGRY  TRAVELERS. 

BRISTOL,  ENG.,  Sept.  11,  1885. 
My  Dear  Boy : 

In  the  interval  since  sending  you  a  batch  of  jum- 
bled notes,  taken  hurriedly,  we  have  been  looking 
over  Liverpool.  The  immense  quantity  of  stone  and 
glass  used  here  is  almost  the  first  thing  that  attracted 
my  attention.  About  one-half  of  the  inside  partitions 
in  our  hotel  and  the  dividing  walls  between  the  rooms 
are  of  very  thick  ground  glass.  A  greater  portion 
of  the  railroad  stations  are  of  stone,  iron  and  glass. 
You  see  these  materials  everywhere. 

The  appearance  of  the  people  here  is  decidedly  more 
like  those  in  a  Virginia  city  than  are  those  of  our 
nearer  neighbors,  the  New  Yorkers.  We  have  seen 
a  number  of  very  fine  buildings,  and  a  few  days  ago 
heard  in  front  of  one  of  them,  St.  George's  Hall,  sev- 
eral very  incendiary  addresses  from  members  of  a 
gathering  purporting  to  be  composed  of  workingmen. 
Of  liberty  of  speech  there  seemed  a  superabundance, 
and  judging  from  the  occasion  indicated,  an  English- 
man need  not  go  out  of  his  own  country  to  enjoy  it. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  13 

I  went  through  a  large  tobacco  factory  in  Liver- 
pool on  Wednesday,  and  as  a  matter  of  more  than 
ordinary  interest  to  the  average  Lynchburger,  will 
try  to  give  you  an  idea  of  what  I  saw,  which  was  as 
strange  to  me  as  though  I  had  not  been  reared  in 
one  of  the  greatest  tobacco  manufacturing  towns  in 
the  world.  I  was  first  taken  into  a  room  about  50 
by  150  feet  in  its  dimensions,  where  there  was  a 
number  of  girls  engaged  in  stemming  leaf  tobacco, 
which  had  been  cased  until  it  was  perfectly  supple. 
I  was  then  conducted  into  another,  where  the  strip 
was  being  made  into  coils  or  ropes,  ranging  in  size 
from  the  little  finger  to  the  arm.  In  another  apart- 
ment these  coils  were  put  into  shapes  called  targets, 
ranging  in  size  from  about  that  of  a  kegshead  down 
to  the  thickness  of  a  collar  box.  These  shapes  were 
put  into  baking  pans  and  baked  in  large  ovens,  and 
after  being  taken  out  and  allowed  to  cool  off,  were 
wrapped  around  with  hemp  rope  on  the  round  side, 
set  on  flat  iron  sheets  and  put  under  hydraulic  pres- 
sure;  after  which  they  are  taken  out,  boxed  and 
shipped  to  the  retailer.  All  tobacco  used  here,  cer- 
tainly all  manufactured  here,  goes  through  a  cooking 
or  baking  process.  The  duty  on  the  raw  stock  is  3s. 
arid  6d.,  yet  the  manufactured  article  can  be  and  is 
sold  for  3s.  and  3d.  Think  of  that,  6  cents  less  than 
the  duty  !  Upon  what  principle  of  legitimate  profits 
can  this  be  accounted  for? 

I  am  staying  at  a  hotel  here,  St.  Vincent's  Rocks, 
which  is  high  upon  a  rocky  hill  or  mountain  some- 


14  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

what  in  shape  like  that  of  a  sugar  loaf,  at  the  foot 
of  which  flows  the  Avon  river.  I  can  see  in  front  of 
ine  for  many  miles  over  the  county  of  Somerset,  and 
on  my  left  and  in  the  rear  an  equal  distance  into 
Gloustershire. 

I  came  down  from  Liverpool  yesterday,  198  miles, 
in  5  hours,  and  go  to  London  to  morrow  by  the  "Fly- 
ing Dutchman,"  which  makes  the  trip  in  2£  hours. 
While  traveling  by  cars  one  can  telegraph  ahead 
free  of  expense,  and  have  a  delightfully  hot  meal 
handed  into  your  carriage  at  any  station  on  the  line. 
The  lunch  is  placed  in  a  square  willow  basket,  with 
plate,  glass,  knife,  fork,  salt,  pepper,  butter,  etc.  I 
have  always  found,  on  such  occasions,  a  nice  salad  of 
some  kind  and  a  bottle  of  wine,  stout,  lager,  ale  or 
mineral  water  in  the  basket  accompanying  the  food  ; 
the  cost  is  3s.  for  cold,  or  3s.  6d.  for  a  hot  meal  with 
the  trimmings  indicated. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  15 


LETTER  III. 

A  GLIMPSE  OF  BREMEN — THE  RASKT-KELLER  WINE  CEL- 
LARS— MEETING  OLD  ACQUAINTANCES — THE  PICTURES 
OF  BREMEN — A  TRIP  ACROSS  THE  GERMAN  OCEAN — RE- 
TURN TO  LONDON. 

MORLES  HOTEL, 
LONDON,  ENQ.,  Sept  27,  1885. 
My  Dear  Boy : 

Since  sending  a  card  from,  the  continent,  written 
in  Raskt-Keller,  one  of  the  most  famous  wine  cellars 
in  the  world,  I  have  returned  to  London,  where  I 
was  rejoiced  to  meet  Messrs.  R.  H.  T.  Adams,  Dr. 
Thornhill  and  Davis  Christian.  Mr.  Adams  is  in  the 
possession  of  enviable  health,  while  Dr.  Thornhill 
says  he  is  daily  increasing  in  vigor.  Mr.  Halsey  and 
wife  and  Capt.  Lee  leave  for  Scotland  to-morrow? 
and  Mr.  Moorman  sails  for  home  in  a  day  or  two. 
Messrs.  Adams,  Thornhill,  Christian  and  the  writer 
go  hence  to  Scotland  on  Wednesday. 

It  is  perhaps  pertinent  at  this  point  to  say  some- 
thing of  Bremen,  from  whence  I  have  so  recently 
come.  The  old  city  was  built  about  the  year  818, 
and  was  originally  a  walled  town  with  a  wide,  deep 
moat  entirely  encircling  it,  which,  in  the  progress  of 
the  centuries,  has  deepened  and  widened  until  it  now 
forms  a  beautiful  sheet  of  clear  water  some  two  miles 
in  circumference.  The  new  city  has  been  built 


16          SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

around  the  outer  circle.  The  gigantic  statue  of  Hol- 
land, an  ancient  knight  who  performed  wondrous 
deeds  with  sword  and  lance,  stands  near  the  City 
Hall,  a  building  in  the  older  city  whose  existence 
dates  back  for  about  five  centuries.  On  the  wall  of 
this  ancient  structure  is  an  immense  painting  repre- 
senting Solomon's  judgment,  when  the  two  women 
claimed  the  child.  The  latter  is  held  aloft  by  a  sol- 
dier who  is  represented  as  being  almost  in  the  act  of 
smiting  the  child  in  twain.  The  dates  on  this  pic- 
ture indicate  that  it  was  painted  in  1353,  and  twice 
retouched.  They  are  as  follows:  "1353" — retouched 
in  1582,  and  again  in  1615.  Another  picture  of  re- 
cent date  hangs  on, the  opposite  wall,  representing  a 
regiment  of  Bremen  soldiers  engaged  in  battle  with 
a  French  regiment  in  the  late  Franco-Prussian  war. 
The  picture  is  a  very  fine  one. 

The  famous  wine  cellar,  Raskt-Kellar,*  is  beneath 
this  building ;  the  main  cellar,  fitted  up  with  tables, 
stalls  and  alcoves  for  its  customers,  is  about  200  feet 
long  by  75  wide.  The  wine  is  stored  in  other  rooms. 
Two  or  three  times  a  day  a  guide  accompanies  visit- 

*  A  card  of  the  character  here  referred  to  was  sent  to  the  editor 
of  one  of  the  Lynchburg  daily  papers  and  was  reproduced  with 
an  introduction  in  his  journal  as  follows  : 

"  COSTLY  WINE.— Our  townsman,  R.  L.  Miller,  Esq.,  now  in 
Europe,  sends  us  a  lithograph  card  upon  which  he  writes: 
'  This  card  is  written  in  the  Raskt-Keller,  the  most  celebrated 
wine  vault  in  the  German  Empire.  This  picture  represents  the 
Bacchus  cask,  filled  in  1624.  We  have  just  taken  a  drink  of  it. 
The  value  of  the  wine,  with  compound  interest,  is  5,500  marks  a 
drop.' " 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  17 

ors  through  the  rooms,  explaining  the  contents  to 
them.  The  first  one  we  entered  contains  12  casks, 
each  holding  15,000  bottles  of  wine.  These  casks 
represent  the  12  apostles  including  Judas,  and  con- 
tain the  best  wine.  An  immense  cask,  with  a  beauti- 
fully carved  figure  of  Bacchus  astride  the  head,  holds 
25,000  bottles.  Another  room  contains  no  wine,  but 
on  the  ceiling  is  painted  a  large  red  rose.  It  was 
formerly  used  by  the  old  City  Council  for  secret 
meetings,  whence  doubtless  originated  the  expression 
"  sub  rosa."  These  cellars  are  owned  and  run  by 
the  city.  The  doors  are  promptly  closed  at  11 
o'clock  P.  M.,  and  the  supply  of  wine  ceases  at  ex- 
actly 12,  midnight.  You  can  order  as  much  as  you 
please  up  to  this  hour,  and  spend  the  night  in  drink- 
ing it,  but  should  your  supply  become  exhausted 
after  12,  no  more  can  be  had  for  love  or  money. 

We  had  a  very  pleasant  trip  across  the  German 
Ocean  on  our  way  back,  landing  at  Flushing,  in  Hol- 
land, and  thence  returning  to  Queenstown,  England. 
Yesterday  Messrs.  Adams,  Thornhill,  Christian  and 
myself  visited  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  the  oldest  church 
in  London.  We  also  paid  a  visit  to  the  Interna- 
tional Industrial  Exhibition.  Of  course  Westminster 
Abbey  came  in  for  a  share  of  our  attention,  where 
we  saw  among  other  things  the  old  monuments 
erected  to  all  of  England's  departed  kings  and  queens, 
and  to  England's  celebrated  dead  in  other  ranks  than 
those  of  rulers.  There  were  numerous  artists  pres- 
ent during  our  visit  copying  the  grand  old  raonu- 


18  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

ments  and  beautifully  carved  stone  arches.  We 
failed  to  gain  admission  to  the  Parliament  building, 
as  this  is  the  period  of  recess  and  the  building  was 
consequently  closed. 

I  have  seen  so  many  things,  and  so  little  of  any  of 
them,  that  I  am  at  a  loss  about  what  to  write. 
Messrs.  Adams,  Thornhill  and  Christian  will  sail 
from  Glasgow  for  Bremen,  and  thence  on  .to  Paris, 
etc.  The  writer  will  go  from  Edinburgh  to  Liver- 
pool, and  from  there  sail  for  home. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  19 


LETTER  IV. 

NEW  YORK  TO  LIVERPOOL — A  ROUGH  PASSAGE — THE  "  STIR- 
RING" SEA  SICKNESS — APPALLING  WEATHER  —  OLD 
NEPTUNE  ON  A  VERITABLE  BENDER. 

R.  M.  S.  "  GERMANIC," 

August  31,  1887. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

After  an  interregnum  of  nearly  two  years,  I  am 
again  on  the  briny  deep  and  amid  very  unpropitious 
surroundings  as  to  the  fickle  winds  and  waves.  We 
sailed  promptly  at  one  minute  past  10  o'clock  A.  M-, 
Wednesday,  August  24.  From  the  very  incipiency 
of  the  voyage  we  have  had  bad  weather ;  the  25th 
it  rained,  and  we  had  stiff  winds ;  the  same  continued 
on  the  26th,  and  notwithstanding  C.  was  as  fresh  as 
a  lark,  Col.  Bullock  was  very  limp  and  sickish,  and 
the  writer  was  sick  all  over.  The  following  colloquy 
occurred  in  our  state-room : 

Col.  B.  "  What  makes  the  ship  roll  so,  confound 
her?  She  hasn't  been  still  a  minute  since  we  left 
Sandy  Hook.  Is  sea- sickness  from  the  brain  or 
stomach?" 

M.  "  Both,  has  been  my  experience." 

The  waves  increase  in  size  and  number,  and  as  a 
sequence  in  a  few  hours  the  Colonel  and  myself  are 
too  sick  to  think  and  too  busy  to  talk.  The  night  of 
the  27th  the  wind  increased  to  a  hurricane,  the  waves 


20  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

continually  rolling  over  the  deck.  Sail  after  sail  is 
hoisted  to  keep  the  ship  steady,  but  they  are  split 
into  ribbons  as  they  are  put  up.  Three  of  our  boats 
are  seriously  damaged,  the  partition  around  the  look- 
out blown  away  and  the  decks  fairly  swimming  in  a 
depth  of  water.  Everything  is  damp  and  sticky; 
the  smell  of  bilge- water,  the  odor  from  the  smoke- 
room  and  kitchen  permeate  every  part  of  the  ship, 
while  a  large  majority  of  our  passengers  are  confined 
to  their  berths.  Those  who  can  move  about,  look 
like  moulting  chickens,  and  would  show  well  at  a 
wake,  but  would  be  sadly  out  of  place  on  any  more 
festive  occasion.  C.  is  one  of  the  very  few  who 
remain  disgustingly  well,  horribly  cheerful  and 
chronically  hungry.  Col.  B.  and  the  writer  lay,  or 
rather  roll,  from  side  to  side  in  our  berths  listening 
to  the  shrieking  of  the  wind  through  the  cordage  of 
the  vessel,  the  swish  of  the  seething  waters,  as  it 
races  past,  and  the  dull  thud  of  the  bow  as  she 
thumps  through  wave  after  wave. 

The  night  of  the  27th,  although  we  are  so  little 
past  midsummer,  is  as  dark  as  January.  Intervals 
of  a  groping  twilight  alternate  with  seasons  of  utter 
blackness,  and  it  is  impossible  to  trace  the  reason  of 
these  changes  in  the  flying  horrors  of  the  sky.  The 
wind  blows  the  breath  out  of  one's  nostrils;  all 
heaven  seems  to  thunder  overhead  like  the  flapping 
of  one  huge  sail  in  the  tempest,  and  when  there  falls 
a  momentary  lull  on  board,  we  can  hear  the  gusts 
dismally  sweeping  in  the  distance.  Looking  over 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.          21 

the  side  of  the  vessel  we  peer  upon  a  world  of  black- 
ness, where  the  waters  wheel  and  boil,  where  the 
waves  joust  together  with  the  noise  of  an  explosion, 
and  the  foam  towers  and  vanishes  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye.  The  fury,  height  and  transiency  of  their 
spouting  is  a  thing  to  be  seen,  not  considered  or  de- 
scribed. During  this  fearful  storm  one  of  our  steerage 
passengers  adds  another  to  the  list.  A  purse  of  four 
pounds  and  ten  shillings  is  made  up,  and  we  name  it 
"  Hurricane." 

C.  sighted  a  vessel  to-day  (the  30th)  and  assures  us 
that  she  is  anchored.  The  fun  comes  in  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  water  is  only  seven  miles  deep 
just  around  here.  The  Colonel  to-day  expresses  fear 
lest  our  outside  cabin  be  washed  overboard.  The 
writer  is  just  beginning  to  feel  a  little  interest  in 
life  again.  Will  probably  sight  the  Irish  coast  some 
time  to-night  (1st)  and  will  mail  this  letter  in  Queens- 
town  to-morrow. 


22  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER   V. 

ARRIVAL  IN  LIVERPOOL  —  THE  WONDERFUL  DOCKS — A 
LABOR-SAVING  MERCHANT — DUBLIN — A  PLEASANT  VISIT 
TO  BRAY — A  WELL-TRAINED  HORSE — IRISH  NATURE. 

LIVERPOOL,  Sept.  16,  1887. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

We  found  upon  our  arrival  here  that  "  Mexican 
Joe  "  and  his  troupe  were  the  all-absorbing  topic.  A 
girl  from  his  show  galloping  down  Church  street  to- 
day at  break-neck  speed  attracted  unwonted  atten- 
tion. I  noticed  that  the  older  people  stopped  and 
watched  her  as  long  as  she  was  in  sight,  while  hun- 
dreds of  young  men  and  boys  ran  after  the  pony. 

One  of  the  most  wonderful  examples  of  construction 
in  the  world  consists  in  the  docks  of  this  city.  The 
largest  ocean  steamer  can  be  dry-docked  here.  We 
saw  the  "  British  King  "  during  our  visit  to  them  in 
the  Alexandria  dock,  undergoing  repairs  to  her  pro- 
peller. A  walk  along  the  dock- wall,  which  extends 
for  several  miles,  affords  one  an  idea  of  what  is 
susceptible  of  being  done  in  the  way  of  massive 
masonry  by  a  people  who  have  subjected  all  of  the 
elements  contained  in  it  to  the  attainment  of  their 
own  purposes,  whether  commercial  or  otherwise. 

I  visited  a  store  here,  known  as  Lewis',  that  exceeds 
even  Yankee  thrift  and  ingenuity  in  the  adaptation 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  23 

of  labor-saving  appliances.  The  employees  are  num- 
bered by  hundreds  and  the  business  averages  £1,500 
daily.  One  clerk  sits  in  a  kind  of  pulpit  above  the 
counter,  while  just  in  front  of  him  is  a  perfect  net- 
work of  little  railroads  running  in  different  directions 
to  the  counters  of  other  clerks — some  twenty  or 
thirty  in  number.  Calling  at  the  soap  counter,  I 
purchased  a  package  of  three  cakes  of  plain  soap,  for 
which  the  charge  was  twenty  cents,  giving  a  two 
shilling  piece  to  the  salesman,  who  put  it  into  a 
hollow  ball,  placed  the  latter  on  one  of  the  railroads 
and  sped  it  away  to  the  clerk  in  the  pulpit — the 
correct  change  came  back  in  the  ball  to  the  soap 
counter. 

With  a  view  of  visiting  the  Lakes  of  Killarney  and 
other  points  of  interest  in  Ireland,  we  went  first  to 
Dublin  from  this  city,  arrived  in  the  night  and 
stopped  at  a  very  inferior  hotel.  True,  we  had 
chickens,  but  they  were  not  such  as  would  have  im- 
pelled an  itinerant  preacher  at  home  to  have  left  his 
devotions ;  on  the  other  hand  they  were  unattractive, 
ancient  fellows,  whose  leg  muscles,  preternaturally 
developed  by  a  long  career  of  fruitless  scratching, 
defied  the  teeth  of  even  our  hungry  party.  We  also 
had  a  loud- flavored  ham  in  paper  crinolettes,  together 
with  tongues  of  leather-like  consistency,  all  flanked 
by  stony-hearted  cold  bread  and  environed  by  a 
forbidding  regiment  of  evil-looking  decanters  of 
poteen.  Our  party,  however,  notwithstanding  such 
temptations  to  ill-humor,  are  full  of  eager  anticipa- 


24  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

tion,  rendering  the  Colonel  so  absent-minded  or  ob- 
livious to  surrounding  objects,  that  at  breakfast  this 
morning  he  put  soy  on  his  eggs,  and  buttered  the 
newspaper  instead  of  his  toast. 

I  came  near  forgetting  to  mention  a  pleasant  trip 
to  Bray,  behind  a  team  of  four  fine  horses  hitched  to 
a  "  tally-ho"  coach,  owned  by  a  friend  of  the  writer, 
and  by  him  put  at  our  disposal.  Bray  is  twenty 
miles  from  Dublin.  We  made  the  trip  in  two  and  a 
quarter  hours,  supplemented  by  a  fine  lunch,  after 
which  we  took  a  promenade  on  the  esplanade  on  the 
sea  wall,  which  runs  for  miles  up  and  down  the 
beach,  and  which  is  beyond  question  the  most  beau- 
tiful walk  I  ever  beheld.  The  place  was  full— all 
the  old  ladies  having  fans,  umbrellas  and  vinai- 
grettes ;  all  of  the  younger  ones  rejoiced  in  sailor  hats, 
cotton  frocks,  sunshades  and  the  latest  novel ;  all  of 
the  old  gentlemen  were  arrayed  in  white  duck  and 
pith  helmets,  while  all  of  the  younger  ones  were 
ensconced  in  boating  flannels,  tennis  stripes  or  lightest 
of  checks.  Every  nursemaid  had  secured  a  sweet- 
heart, and  every  child  a  sand-spade  or  a  sunstroke. 
I  passed  one  old  lady  sound  asleep,  her  face  wreathed 
in  smiles,  doubtless  from  pleasant  dreams,  and  at  her 
feet  lay  a  novel  on  its  stomach  in  the  sand.  As  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach  the  broad  blue  Irish  Sea  lay 
glittering  beyond  the  emerald  cliffs.  The  promenade 
was  crowded  with  well-dressed  people,  and  the  cheery 
thud  of  the  lawn-tennis  ball  against  its  racket  and 
the  laughter  of  the  players  sounded  and  mingled  in 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  25 

harmony  with  the  never-ending  plash  of  the  waves. 
Bray  is  a  green  spot  in  memory. 

Our  coach  made  the  trip  back  to  Dublin  in  two 
and  a  half  hours,  when  we  went  to  dine  with  an  Irish 
gentleman  of  the  old  school — a  friend  of  the  writer, 
and  I  believe  a  kinsman.  A  beautiful  lawn  and  grove, 
comprised  of  forty  acres,  leads  up  to  the  fine  but 
very  old  house,  with  its  large  halls  and  rooms  and 
wide  porches  of  stone  and  marble.  After  an  hour 
spent  in  the  garden  and  shrubbery,  dinner  was  an- 
nounced. My  entertainer's  wife,  who,  by  the  way,  is 
the  daughter  of  a  baronet,  was  absent  in  London, 
and  her  sister  with  her  two  little  girls  did  the 
honors.  We  had  sherry,  champagne  and  other  wines 
freely  ;  then  the  ladies  retired,  when  we  had  hot 
water  and  Irish  whiskey.  Then  it  was  that  the 
shades  of  Charles  O'Malley  materialized.  The  party 
was  composed  of  Col.  Mapleson,  the  husband  of 
"  Marie  Rose,"  the  most  celebrated  singer  in  this 
country,  with  Mr.  Childs,  our  host,  Col.  Bullock,  my 
friend's  partner,  and  the  writer.  Colonel  M.  proposed 

to  bet  that  Mr. 's  horse  could  not,  or  would  not, 

come  into  the  dining-room  and  prove  himself  gentle 
and  kind.  The  bet  was  promptly  taken  and  two 
grooms  ordered  to  bring  the  horse  in.  In  a  few 
moments  we  heard  his  iron  shod  hoofs  on  the  marble 
step,  and  the  next  moment  he  was  in  the  room,  a 
coal-black  hunter  and  a  beautiful  animal.  After  he 
had  shown  his  paces  around  the  tables,  our  host,  Mr. 
M ,  mounted  him  and  made  him  place  his  two 


20  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

fore-feet  in  a  chair,  remarking  that  he  could  ride 
him  up  three  flights  of  steps  into  the  drawing-room 
on  the  second  floor.  Col.  Bullock  very  promptly 
stepped  forward  and  earnestly  craved  this  privilege, 
which  was  granted,  and  right  gallantly  did  my 
countryman  perform  -his  task.  The  first  flight  of 
steps  was  quickly  mounted  and  a  stop  made  on  the 
broad  landing,  when  the  old  gentleman  and  his  mag- 
nificent black  threw  up  their  heads  with  a  conscious 
look  of  pride  ;  then  quickly  ascending  to  the  second 
and  third  landing,  the  Colonel  rode  proudly  into  the 
ladies  drawing-room.  You  may  rest  assured  it  created 
quite  a  flutter.  Colonel  B.  is  to-day  the  proudest 
man  in  Great  Britain,  and  we  correspondingly  reflect 
his  grandeur.  After  this  episode  we  decided  it 
would  be  best  to  return  to  our  hotel,  as  jumping  the 
horse  over  the  table  was  in  serious  contemplation. 
It  is  more  than  possible  that  some  of  our  more  un- 
charitable friends,  in  view  of  the  foregoing  statements, 
may  jump  at  hasty  conclusions  and  are  ready  to  ex- 
claim, "  They  were  drunk."  Go  easy,  my  dear 
friends  ;  if  this  be  your  conclusion,  you  are  mistaken. 
Know  ye  not,  that  there  is  something  in  the  very  air 
the  people  of  Ireland  breathe  that  renders  them  ever 
ready  for  the  commission  of  dare-devil  deeds,  and  I 
now  know  that  Lever  did  not  exaggerate  one  par- 
ticle in  his  delineation  of  this  characteristic  of  his 
countrymen. 

I  purposed  to  say  something  about  our  trip  to  the 
Lakes  of   Killarney  and   of    the  desolation  of  the 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  27 

"  evicted  "  farms,  which  are  numerous  in  this  section, 
as  well  as  of  the  beggars — such  beggars,  such  per- 
sistent, such  patient,  hearty,  cheerful  beggars — but  I 
have  already  written  too  much  and  must  say  good- 
bye. All  of  our  party  are  well.  Mr.  0.  has  turned 
into  an  exclamation  point  and  Col.  Bullock  is  almost 
rejuvenated.  I  continue  to  maintain  my  equable 
poise,  but  find  my  thoughts  perpetually  turning 
homeward,  and  my  constant  wish  is  that  the  faces  of 
my  friends  and  dear  ones  may  be  like  the  daughter 
of  Egypt — a  face  that  age  could  not  wither  or  change  ; 
a  slight  case  of  the  blues,  you  perceive. 


28  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER  VI. 

MANCHESTER — ART  EXHIBITION — A  MAGNIFICENT  DISPLAY 
— RAMBLES  IN  EDINBURGH — JENNIE  DEAN'S  COTTAGE, 
HOLYROOD  AND  VARIOUS  OTHER  PLACES  OF  INTEREST — 
BILLINGSGATE  AND  A  FISH  DINNER. 

LONDON,  Sept.  23, 1887. 
My  Dear  Boy : 

In  a  former  letter  I  neglected  to  make  mention  of 
our  visit  to  the  exhibition  at  Manchester,  near  Liv- 
erpool. The  picture  galleries  contain  more  oil  paint- 
ings .of  celebrity  than  were  ever  gathered  together 
before.  Only  think  of  sixteen  or  eighteen  of  Land- 
seer's  best  creations,  together  with  a  number  of 
Long's,  Wallace's  and  Millet's  wonderfully  touching 
and  pathetic  picturing.  The  most  beautiful  of  these, 
in  my  judgment,  is  one  entitled  "  The  Poor  Man's 
Friend,"  representing  a  fisherman  at  his  cottage  door 
mending  a  net;  his  wife  stands  in  the  door  and  his 
little  girl  is  leaning  on  his  knee  ;  at  his  side  stands  a 
blind  beggar,  while  the  mendicant's  little  girl  is  bash- 
fully and  tearfully  pleading  for  a  penny.  The  atti- 
tude of  eager  pleading  in  the  child's  face  and  position 
is  something  marvelous,  and  would  touch  the  heart 
of  the  most  callous.  Another  fine  picture  by  C.  W. 
Mitchell  is  "  Hypatia,"  Charles  Kingsley's  heroine. 

"  On  up  the  nave,  fresh  shreds  of  her  dress  strewing  the 
holy  pavements — up  to  the  altar — right  underneath  the  great, 
still  Christ,  and  even  there  those  hell-hounds  paused. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  29 

"  She  shook  herself  free  from  her  tormentors,  and  springing 
back  rose  for  one  moment  to  her  full  height,  naked,  snow- 
white  against  the  dusky  mass  around.  Shame  and  indignation 
in  those  wild,  clear  eyes,  but  not  a  stain  of  fear.  Her  lips 
were  open  to  speak,  but  the  words  that  should  have  come 
from  them  reached  God's  ear  alone,  for  in  an  instant  Peter 
struck  her  down." 

Lady  E.  Butler's  painting  of  the  return  of  the  gal- 
lant six  hundred  from  their  charge  at  Balaklava  is 
exhibited  by  the  owner,  John  Whitehead,  Esq. 
"  M'liss,"  by  Long,  and  "  The  Village  Wedding,"  by 
Luke  Fildes.  The  painting  of  "  The  Kit  Kat  Klub,"/ 
by  Yeames,  and  L.  Almatadema's  realistic  marble 
work,  Millard's  "Bride  of  Lammermoor,"  from  which 
so  many  copies  have  been  taken,  and  from  which  so 
many  engravings  have  been  made,  are  all  here,  and 
richly  deserving  of  close  attention  To  even  attempt 
to  mention  a  few  of  the  2104  paintings  and  sculptures 
would  require  a  week. 

While  in  Edinburgh  we  visited  the  castle  and  the 
historical  old  Abbey  and  palace  of  Holy  rood ;  the 
next  day  riding  over  to  Arthur's  seat,  passing  Jennie 
Dean's  cottage  and  underneath  the  Salisbury  crags 
— Sir  Walter  Scott's  favorite  walk' — and  where,  it  is 
said,  he  composed  "The  Heart  of  Midlothian."  In 
the  evening  we  went  down  to  that  wonderful  piece 
of  engineering  skill,  the  bridge  across  the  Firth  of 
Forth.  An  idea  of  the  immensity  of  the  work  may 
be  obtained  from  the  fact  that  4,000  men  have  been 
employed  here  for  five  years,  and  it  will  require  two 


30  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

more  years  to  complete  the  work.  The  bridge,  with 
its  approaches,  is  one  and  three-quarters  miles  long, 
and  the  spans  are  1,750  feet,  built  on  the  cantalever 
plan. 

Back  in  London,  we  have  spent  five  busy  days  in 
sight-seeing.  Took  in  the  Abbey  and  Tower,  and 
then  spent  a  day  at  Kensington  Museum,  where  can 
be  seen  representatives  of  every  animal  (man  in- 
cluded), bird,  fish,  fowl,  tree,  shrub,  flower,  mineral, 
insect — in  fact  of  everything  that  has  lived  or  died 
since  Noah's  day.  Madam  Taussard's  wax-works 
were  a  source  of  great  enjoyment  to  Col.  B.  and  J.  C. 
I  am  the  guide,  having  gone  over  these  grounds  be- 
fore, and  consequently  essay  the  role  of  "  Ferguson." 
At  Madame  Taussard's,  Mr.  C.  and  Col.  B.  walked 
up  to  the  wax  figure  of  a  policeman  and  insisted  on 
its  answering  some  questions.  The  crowd  saw  the 
fun  and  quickly  gathered  around  them.  They  soon 
saw  their  mistake  and  fled  to  me.  I  saw  a  huge 
amount  of  embarrassment,  and  promptly  declined  to 
recognize  either  of  them  when  they  spoke  to  me.  I 
pretended  not  to  know  them  from  Adam,  and  they 
were  mean  enough  not  to  like  my  very  proper  con- 
duct. Yesterday  we  visited  Scotland  Yard  and  then 
went  down  to  Billingsgate  and  had  a  fish  dinner  at 
the  "  Three  Tuns  Tavern,"  consisting  of  six  kinds  of 
fish,  viz :  cod,  eels,  brill,  haddock,  soles,  turbot,  with 
anchovy,  oyster,  clam  and  mussel  sauces.  The  tav- 
ern stands  just  back  of  the  fish  market,  the  latter 
constituting  a  rare  sight  to  our  party.  Every  kind 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  31 

of  edible  fish  is  here  offered  for  sale,  from  a  half- 
pound  to  a  hundred-pounder.  C.  F.,  the  K.'s  and 
Uncles  Charles  and  George  B.  would  open  their  eyes 
at  the  number,  size  and  variety  of  the  finny  tribe 
here  exhibited. 

Our  lady  friends  at  home  would  have  greatly  en- 
joyed a  visit  to  the  building  in  which  the  Queen's 
•Jubilee  presents  are  displayed.  They  came  from 
every  quarter  of  the  globe.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  Heligoland,  Australasia,  Canada, 
India,  China,  residents  in  the  colonies,  English  resi- 
dents in  Seville,  consuls  on  the  continent,  all  united 
their  gifts  with  those  at  home. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER  VII. 

BEAUTIFUL  PARIS— ITS  NUMEROUS  PLACES  OF  INTEREST  AND 
BEAUTY— THE  MORGUE— GOBELIN  TAPESTRY— BRUSSELS 
AND  ITS  CATHEDRAL— A  LEGEND  CONNECTED  WITH  IT. 

BRUXELLES,  Oct.  3,  1887. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

We  left  Belgium  two  days  ago,  and  as  our  trip 
through  Belgium,  Holland  and  Germany  will  be  a 
very  rapid  one,  Col.  B.  decided  to  remain  with  Mr. 
Boykin  and  his  family.  They  are  Virginians,  and 
the  brief  time  we  spent  with  them  will  be  long  re- 
membered as  one  of  the  most  pleasant  incidents  in 
our  travels. 

Beautiful  Paris  !  It  is  not  within  the  power  of 
pen  to  describe  thy  countless  attractions  and  beauties ; 
certainly  mine  is  incompetent  to  the  task  of  affording 
even  a  shadow  of  the  substantive  of  them — they  must 
be  seen  to  be  appreciated.  In  visiting  the  superb 
palaces  and  enchanting  gardens,  and  the  galleries  of 
painting  and  sculpture,  we  felt  for  the  time  being 
that  we  were  in  possession  of  Aladdin's  lamp.  The 
palace  of  Versailles  was  especially  attractive,  being 
.  a  marvel  of  art  in  its  decorations  and  furnishings, 
with  grounds  that  are  extensive  and  artistically  laid 
out.  It  is  needless,  however,  to  particularize,  but  to 
afford  you  an  idea  of  how  much  we  did  see  in  a  few 
days  will  only  mention  a  few  of  the  many  places  vis- 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TEAVEL.  33 

ited :  The  great  Boulevards,  Porte  St.  Denis,  Palace 
de  la  Republique,  the  Bastile,  Rue  Rivoli,  Louvre, 
St.  Germain,  1'Auxerrois,  Bourse,  Palais  Royal,Champs 
Elysees,  Arc  de  Triomphe,  St.  Augustine,  Grand 
Opera  House,(where  we  saw  the  "  Huguenots"  and  the 
"  Patriot "  performed,  the  ballet  being  composed  of 
over  six  hundred  girls  on  the  stage  at  one  time),  Place 
Vendome,  Tuilleries  Gardens,  Place  du  Carrousel, 
Notre  Dame,  Tomb  of  Napoleon — and  Napoleons  are 
everywhere,  the  people  worshipping  the  very  name 
of  their  dead  hero.  Louis  the  XIV.  is  also  a  very 
important  personage  with  all  Parisians.  I  visited 
the  Morgue  alone,  none  of  our  party  desiring  to  ac- 
company me.  Three  dead  bodies  were  on  the  marble 
slabs.  One  presented  a  horrible  appearance,  the  face 
being  terribly  battered.  The  other  two  were  men 
and  suicides — one  having  ended  his  career  through 
drowning,  the  other  by  hanging.  A  visit  to  the 
Gobelin  Tapestry  works  was  very  interesting ;  only 
one  and  one-half  inches  by  each  man  being  done  per 
day.  I  saw  no  women  employed  in  the  works,  which 
are  owned  and  operated  by  the  government.  The 
Column  Vendome  is  a  marvel  of  art.  The  tall  circular 
shaft  was  cast  from  fourteen  hundred  bronze  guns 
captured  by  Napoleon. 

The  portion  of  France  through  which  we  passed 
from  Dieppe  to  Paris  is  low,  exhibiting  a  great  deal 
of  wet  land,  with  innumerable  rows  of  poplar  and 
willow  trees  fringing  a  multitude  of  streams  and  ca- 
nals. No  better  or  more  beautiful  description  of  the 


34  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

country  could  be  expressed  than  is  contained  in  the 
following  little  gem  of  a  poem  entitled  "  Petit  Chauson 
Picard  ": 

Pale  leaves  waver  and  whisper  low, 

(Silvered  leaves  of  the  poplar  tree), 
Waters  wander  and  billows  blow 

In  Pieardie. 

Misty  green  of  the  orchard  grass, 

Grass-grown  lanes  by  the  sedge-fringed  lea, 
Pleasant  ways  for  the  feet  that  pass 

Through  Pieardie 

Here  the  youth  on  a  blue  May  night, 
Soft  to  his  maiden's  home  steals  he, 
Binds  a  bough  to  the  lintel's  height 

Of  dark  fir  tree. 

Gaston  sigheth  for  Bernadette ! 

(Sorrow  to  come — or  joy  to  be  ?) 
This  she  knows  by  the  token  set 

In  secrecy. 

Long  lagoons  where  the  lilies  lie, 

(Blossoms  and  buds  of  ivory), 
Sweet  the  meadows  and  fair  the  sky 

Of  Pieardie ! 

Where  be  the  waters  to  drown  regret  ? 

Where  be  the  leaves  of  sleep's  own  tree? 
Nowhere  else  in  the  world— nor  yet 
In  Pieardie. 

The  only  impediment  to  our  pleasure  in  France 
has  been  in  a  lack  of  sunshine  and  a  superabundance 
of  rain. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  35 

Our  advent  into  Brussels,  the  capital  of  the  small 
kingdom  of  Belgium,  was  greeted  with  the  genial 
rays  of  the  sun,  the  beautiful  god  of  light  being  out 
in  all  his  glory.  How  delightfully  his  warm  rays 
flow  into  my  window  and  bathe  my  chilled  frame. 
What  would  the  world  be  worth — or  man  himself — 
if  its  light  or  warmth  were  withdrawn  from  us? 
Heart  and  brain  and  soul  would  shrivel,  sicken  and 
die  in  the  monotonous  gloom,  for  sunshine  is  the 
revivifying  power  of  nature — indeed,  the  motive 
principle.  "  And  God  said,  let  there  be  light,  and 
there  was  light."  A  visit  to  the  cathedral  at  Brus- 
sels was  first  in  order.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  in  Eu- 
rope. The  carved  wood  pulpit,  said  to  be  the  most 
elaborate  piece  of  wood  carving  in  the  world,  was 
presented  to  this  church  by  Marie  Theresa  in  1776. 
At  the  base  are  seen  life-size  figures  of  Adam  and 
Eve  driven  by  angels  from  Paradise  ;  on  the  left, 
Death  is  represented  as  pursuing  them.  The  figures 
of  Adam  and  Eve  are  so  grouped  as  to  support  the 
globe,  which  is  placed  above  them,  and  in  the  con- 
cavity of  which  the  preacher  stands.  This  globe 
rests  upon  a  tree,  on  whose  summit  is  a  canopy  sup- 
ported by  two  angels,  assisted  in  their  task  by  Truth 
in  the  form  of  a  female  figure.  Below  are  seen  the 
Holy  Family  and  infant  Jesus,  the  latter  standing 
upon  a  crescent  and  holding  a  cross,  with  the  aid  of 
which  and  his  mother  he  crushes  the  serpent's  head. 
Below  the  pulpit  are  two  small  staircases,  and  on  the 
trunks  of  the  trees — which  form  the  balustrade — are 


36  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

to  be  seen  various  animals.     On  the  side  of  Adam  an 
ostrich  and  an  eagle  ;  on  that  of  Eve  the  peacock,  the 
parrot  and  the  ape.     A  part  of  the  cathedral  was 
built  to  commemorate  a  miracle  which  runs  as  follows: 
Some  350  years  ago  the  French  overran  this  country, 
and  wherever  they  went  everything  in  church  and 
home  was  carried  off.     One  of  the  priests  of  the  ca- 
thedral, knowing  the  fate  of  the  altar  furniture  of 
other  churches,  hid  the  gold  and  jewels  of  this  sanc- 
tuary in  a  wall  on  the   west  side  of  the  building. 
Just  as  the  work  was  finished  and  the  last  coat  of 
lime  had  been  spread  on  the  wall  concealing  it,  the 
French  entered  the  building.     Not  finding  anything 
of  value   where  so  much  was  expected,  they  very 
promptly  killed  the  priest.     The  bishop,  on  hearing 
that  the  French  had  secured  nothing,  surmised  that 
the  vessels  had  been  hidden  somewhere  within  the 
cathedral.     Years  of  search,  however,  proved  fruit- 
less.    One  of  the  priests  in  charge  of  the  building 
now  decided  to  devote  his  life  to  prayer  in  order  that 
the  lost  treasure  might  be  found.     After  years  and 
years  consecrated  to  that  end,  and  while  praying  one 
morning  with  his  face  to  the  west  wall  of  the  build- 
ing, he  saw  a  bright  gush  of  sunlight  pour  from  an 
aperture  in  the  wall — the  regular  orb  was  then  shin- 
ing  on   the   other   side   of  the  immense  structure. 
Workmen  were  at  -once  summoned  and  the  plaster 
removed  from  the  wall,  when  all  of  the  vessels  and 
jewels  were  revealed  and  removed  from  where  they 
had  so  long  been  in  hiding.     A  chapel  and  an  im- 


SOUVENIE8  OF  TRAVEL.  37 

mense  memorial  window,  illustrative  of  the  miracle, 
now  stand  where  the  wall  once  stood. 

Probably  the  finest  modern  building  in  the  world 
is  the  court-house  in  this  place.  The  architect  died 
under  the  mental  strain  incident  to  preparing  the 
plans  and  superintending  the  building.  The  widow 
was  awarded  a  pension  of  10,000  francs.  Some  of 
the  young  lawyers  were  promenading  the  halls 
during  our  visit,  amusing  me  no  little  with  their 
showy  black  gowns  trimmed  with  white  fur.  Every- 
body here  wear  uniforms,  and  the  lower  the  office  the 
more  gold  lace. 

A  curiosity  of  Brussels,  and  one  seen  by  few 
strangers,  is  the  statue  of  a  little  boy  perfectly  nude, 
and  used  by  the  neighbors  as  a  fountain  from  which 
they  get  their  water  for  all  purposes.  He  is  called 
Menneken  P.  He  stands  at  the  corner  of  two  streets, 
Rue  du  Cliene  and  Rue  de  1'Eluve.  This  little  fellow 
was  a  Burgundian  under  the  Duke  of  B *  a  Ger- 
man under  Maximillian,  a  Spaniard  under  Charles 
V.,  Rebel  during  the  Netherland  troubles,  Austrian 
under  Maria  Theresa,  Republican  in  1794,  French 
under  Napoleon,  semi-Dutch  under  William,  and  is 
now  Belgian  under  Leopold.  Every  one  in  Brussels 
knows  the  man  or  child  of  bronze,  one  cubit  high — 
alone,  without  wings,  and  consequently  fixed  where 
he  stands.  He  is  fixed  upon  an  ornamental  pedestal 
of  much  taste.  His  natural  state  is  one  of  nakedness, 
but  during  the  grand  festivals  of  Brussels  he  is 
dressed  as  a  noble,  lord,  knight  or  soldier.  The 


38          SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

history  of  Menneken  P.  as  related  by  our  guide  is 
this :  The  fountain  of  Menneken  P.  was  erected  by 
a  rich  burgess  of  Brussels,  who,  having  lost  during  a 
festival  his  much-beloved  and  only  child,  three  or 
four  years  old,  found  him  the  fifth  day  afterwards  at 
the  spot  where  the  statue  now  stands,  and  in  the 
identical  posture  in  which  he  is  here  represented. 
There  are  many  other  legends  about  this  very  in- 
teresting little  fellow,  but  the  above  is  believed  to  be 
the  true  one. 

We  will  be  in  Holland  to-morrow  and  Germany 
next  day.  This,  with  other  letters,  needs  to  be 
charitably  considered,  for  the  reason  that  my  mind 
is  in  such  a  dazed  condition  from  sight-seeing,  and 
everything  is  in  such  a  jumble,  that  I  find  it  difficult 
to  follow  an  idea — when  one  strikes  me — an  inch, 
before  I  switch  off  at  right  angles  on  something  else. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  39 


LETTER  VIII. 

HOLLAND — THE  WERTZ  MUSEUM  AT  AMSTERDAM — A  BRIEF 
NOTICE  OF  SOME  OF  THE  REMARKABLE  WORKS  OF  ART 
CONTAINED  IN  IT — DIAMOND  CUTTERS — ROTTERDAM  A 
CITY  OF  CANALS  AND  WOODEN  SHOES. 

AMSTERDAM,  Oct.  8,  1887. 
My  Dear  Soy  : 

The  most  interesting  collection  of  oil  paintings  we 
have  seen  is  that  in  the  Wertz  Museum  at  Brussels. 
"Ouida"  says  of  Wertz:  "Are  there  not  many  to 
whom  his  name  is  yet  as  an  empty  sound,  telling 
nothing  ?  I  fear  so.  He  gave  his  whole  life  for  fame, 
and  yet  fame  has  only  shed  upon  him  a  fitful  and 
incomplete  luster."  Wertz  was  born  in  1805,  in  the 
old  town  of  Diant,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Meuse. 
His  best  picture,  in  my  judgment,  is  "  The  Greeks 
and  Trojans  contending  for  the  body  of  Patroclus." 
The  central  figures  are  the  beautiful  nude  corpse  of 
Patroclus  and  a  divine  fury  endeavoring  to  drag  it 
to  the  Grecian  camp.  The  latter  is  aided  in  this 
purpose  by  a  throng  of  Grecian  warriors,  while  the 
Trojans  struggle  to  bear  the  body  away  to  the  city. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  a  more  beautiful  representa- 
tion of  a  dead  man  was  ever  presented  on  canvass 
than  is  seen  in  this  picture.  "The  Triumph  of 
Christ"  comes  next;  it  was  painted  in  an  unused 
factory  in  Brussels,  and  fairly  shares  with  his  "  Pa- 


40          SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

troclus  "  the  honor  of  being  his  best  work.  "  The 
Orphans  "  represents  the  dead  body  of  the  father  be- 
ing removed  from  the  humble  cottage.  The  wife,  or 
rather  widow,  still  young,  leans  in  gloom  against  the 
wall ;  the  children,  utterly  unconscious  of  the  nature 
of  death,  and  not  understanding  the  removal  of 
"  father,"  fly  like  a  band  of  beautiful  young  furies  to 
attack,  with  cries,  blows  and  kicks,  the  men  lifting 
up  the  coffin.  The  picture  is  most  intense  ;  one  can 
almost  fancy  the  screams  of  the  children  sounding  in 
one's  ears. 

I  can  mention  only  a  few  more  of  these  wonderful 
pictures.  Among  them,  "  The  Revolt  of  Hell,"  fifty 
by  thirty  feet.  Here  are  huge  demons  writhing  in 
every  imaginable  contortion ;  avalanches  of  rocks 
hurling  into  the  bottomless  pit ;  the  entombment  in 
the  central  panel  is  a  representation  of  that  event 
as  set  forth  in  the  Gospel.  The  conception  of  Satan 
in  this  painting  is  remarkable,  and  I  think  correct. 
No  human  form  more  beautiful  can  be  conceived; 
the  evil  is  in  his  look;  the  eyes  alone,  "those  mirrors 
'of  the  soul,"  betray  his  fiendish  intentions.  The 
most'remarkable  of  his  modern  subjects  is  the  "Burnt 
Child."  This  represents  a  poor  woman  who  has  gone 
out  to  buy  provisions,  and  finds  on  her  return  the 
cradle  on  fire  and  the  poor  baby  dead.  She  is  repre- 
sented as  just  having  snatched  the  little  body  from 
the  flames  and  examining,  in  a  dazed  way,  its  dread- 
ful injuries.  "Buried  Alive,"  "Hunger,"  "Madness," 
"Crime,"  and  "The  Suicide,"  are  among  the  most  re- 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  41 

markable  of  this  very  interesting  gallery.  That  of 
"The  Suicide"  is  especially  so.  It  represents  a  young 
man  who  has  destroyed  himself.  The  body  is  totter- 
ing to  its  fall.  On  either  side  of  him  is  his  good  an- 
gel and  his  bad ;  the  former  veils  its  face  in  sorrow 
and  compassion,  while  a  laugh  of  fiendish  glee  lights 
up  the  face  of  the  latter,  who  holds  a  second  pistol, 
should  the  first  fail ;  on  a  table  close  by  a  materialis- 
tic volume  is  lying,  together  with  "A  Scene  in  Hell," 
Quasemodo,  (see  Victor  Hugo's  Notre  Dame  de 
Paris)  ;  "Two  Young  Girls,  or  the  Beautiful  Rosine"; 
"Old  Nick's  Mirror"  and  "The  Man  of  the  Future 
Regarding  the  Things  of  the  Past,"  (the  men  of  the 
future  are  to  be  giants  of  civilization  as  compared  to 
the  people  of  our  day),  completes  the  most  attractive 
of  this  very  interesting  gallery. 

AMSTERDAM   AND   ROTTERDAM. 

Rotterdam,  to  which  we  paid  a  brief  visit,  is  a  city 
of  canals  and  wooden  shoes,  where  the  dogs  and  wo- 
men do  all  the  work.  Our  guide  here  proved  to  be 
quite  a  character.  After  walking  about  for  an  hour 
he  suggested  we  get  a  carriage.  We  agreed.  He 
went  off  and  soon  came  back  with  two  fine  black 
horses  hitched  to  a  very  fine  carriage,  for  which  we 
paid  a  very  fine  price.  When  the  hour  for  luncheon 
arrived,  the  scamp  took  us  to  the  most  expensive 
"  cafe  '  in  the  place  and  ordered  for  himself  the  most 
expensive  dishes,  for  which  we  had  to  pay.  At  Am- 
sterdam we  went  to  see  the  diamond  cutters.  There 


42  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

are  over  12,000  men  engaged  in  that  business  in  that 
city.  The  diamonds  are  lovely,  but  quite  high  even 
here.  The  Palace,  the  Crystal  Palace  and  the  Mu- 
seum, with  innumerable  other  attractions,  we  "  took 
in"  in  Amsterdam.  Now  for  Bremen  and  London 
and  Liverpool,  thence  home. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  43 


LETTER   IX. 

LEAVING  EUROPE  —  BRIEF  OBSERVATIONS  ON  T  H  E  TRIP — 
IRELAND — FRANCE — HOLLAND  —  GERMANY,  &C. — VISIT 
TO  DR.  MORILL  MACKENZIE  —  MEETING  AN  OLD  AC- 
QUAINTANCE— HOMEWARD  BOUND. 

LONDON,  Oct.  10,  1887. 
My  Dear  Boy : 

This  epistle,  which  will  be  brief,  is  begun,  as  indi- 
cated by  the  date  line,  in  England's  greatest  city,  but 
will  be  concluded  with  the  arrival  of  our  steamer  in 
America's  greatest  city,  New  York.  I  have  engaged 
passage  by  the  Guion  steamship  "  Alaska,"  for  the 
14th  inst.  A  brief  reference  to  some  of  the  countries 
we  have  seen,  and  people  we  have  met  on  this  trip, 
may  not  be  inappropriate  at  this  point. 

The  south  of  Ireland  is  in  a  woeful  condition, 
while  the  north,  or  Protestant  portion  of  the  country 
is  as  prosperous  as  any  part  of  our  own  dear  land. 
The  causes  that  have  produced  this  effect  you  can 
figure  out  at  your  leisure.  By  the  way,  there  is  a 
queer  couplet  on  one  of  the  old  churches  in  Dublin, 
which  is  credited  to  Dean  Swift.  The  Dean  wrote  on 
the  door  of  the  edifice  indicated  the  following . 

"  Turk,  Jew  or  Atheist 
Can  enter  here,  but  not  a  Papist." 

The  Dean's  servant,  a  good  Catholic,  saw  the  lines 


44    *  .    SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

and  turned  the  tables  on  his  worship  in  the  following 
neat  manner : 

"  He  who  wrote  this  wrote  it  well 
But  the  same  is  written  on  the  door  of  hell." 

Paris  is  the  queen  of  the  world,  but  France  and 
the  French  people  were  a  woeful  disappointment  to 
us  all.  Brussels  is  a  marvel  of  beauty,  and  all  Belgium 
looks  well. 

Holland  and  its  people  are  both  queer  and  quaint, 
presenting  many  points  of  interest  to  the  traveller. 
The  inhabitants  are  slow  but  pains  taking,  and  in  the 
main,  intelligent  and  thrifty.  We  saw  no  beggars  in 
Holland. 

Germany  has  the  appearance  of  one  large  park, 
with  its  fine  highways  and  well-conducted  railroads, 
telegraphs,  &c.,  all  of  which  are  in  the  hands  of  the 
government. 

In  Bremen  the  writer  met  many  of  his  good  friends, 
and  again  found  himself  in  the  "  Raskt  Kellar " 
doing  homage  to  the  little  god  Bacchus.  A  quick 
run  brought  us  back  to  Flushing,  and  soon  we  were 
again  in  old  England,  and  very  glad  we  were  to  hear 
our  native  language  spoken.  I  never  intend  to  learn 
any  other,  for  the  reason  that  I  do  not  wish  to  en- 
courage foreigners  in  their  conceit  of  speaking  any- 
thing but  the  English  tongue.  If  we  fail  to  learn 
their  language,  they  must  of  necessity  learn  ours. 
While  in  Liverpool  on  the  12th  we  had  quite  a 
pleasant  surprise.  Walking  down  Church  street  I 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  45 

saw  a  familiar  figure  in  front  of  us,  and  to  our  great 
pleasure  we  were  soon  shaking  hands  with  Mr. 
Richard  Mathews,  of  old  Lynchburg.  Mr.  M.  will 
sail  with  us  on  the  "  Alaska,"  which  he  informs  us  is 
a  good  vessel,  and  he  ought  to  know,  if  the  fiftieth 
voyage  he  has  made  be  considered.  While  in  London 
the  writer  called  on  the  celebrated  Dr.  Morill  Mac- 
Kenzie,  and  for  the  benefit  of  Lynchburg  doctors, 
that  they  may  learn  the  value  of  five  or  ten  minutes 
of  time  expended  professionally,  tell  them  that  I  paid 
four  guineas,  or  §20,  each  visit.  I  only  indulged 
twice.  Colonel  Bullock  will  sail  on  the  "  Brittania," 
the  19th,  in  company  with  Messrs.  Boykin  and  Mayo, 
of  Richmond. 

In  due  time  (14th)  our  party  was  on  board  the 
"  Alaska,"  with  a  smooth  sea,  balmy  air  and  the 
prospect  of  a  delightful  run.  Our  passenger  list 
shows  two  celebrities — Mrs.  Scott  Siddons  and  Archi- 
bald Forbes,  the  correspondent  of  the  London  Times 
during  our  civil  war.  We  also  have  a  few  of  the 
"  Mexican  Joe  "  company.  There  are  200  cabin  and 
600  steerage  passengers  on  board.  From  the  very 
inception  of  the  voyage  the  weather  and  the  waters 
have  been  all  that  could  be  desired.  These  indispen- 
sable adjuncts,  together  with  a  jolly  company,  and 
bright  anticipations  of  soon  seeing  the  dear  ones  at 
home  and  the  many  good  friends  of  the  old  "  burg," 
rendered  things  extremely  pleasant.  From  all  this, 
however,  we  were  rudely  awakened  on  the  22d  by 
the  wind  blowing  big  guns  and  rendering  thereby 


46  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

two-thirds  of  our  passengers  sick.  The  most  of  them 
have  turned  a  beautiful  greenish  yellow,  and  look  as 
limp  as  a  string.  Two  ladies  fainted,  while  the 
writer  dare  not  move  even  a  finger  for  fear  of  again 
being  sick.  We  have  averaged  to  noon  to-day  about 
400  miles ;  will  sight  Fire  Island  light  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  encounter  the  custom  house  officials  about 
noon.  This  will  be  about  the  eighth  time  these 
fellows  will  have  gone  through  us.  In  summing  up 
the  chief  characteristics  of  the  vessels  in  which  it  has 
been  my  fortune  to  encounter  the  waves  of  the 
Atlantic,  it  may  be  said  that  as  a  first-class  roller 
give  me  the  "  Etruria,"  of  the  Cunard  line ;  as  a 
pitcher  from  base,  I  will  always  back  the  "City  of 
Rome,"  of  the  Anchor  line ;  and  as  a  good  boat  for 
a  funeral  occasion,  or  any  other  slow  ceremony,  I 
would  take  the  "  Germanic,"  White  Star  line.  I 
find  the  "  Alaska"  combines  all  the  qualities  of  the 
other  three,  except  she  is  quicker  in  her  rolls  and 
more  reckless  in  her  pitches. 

Messrs.  Childs  and  Mathews  think  this  sort  of 
weather  is  fun  I  can't  see  it  in  that  way,  I  am 
sorry  to  say. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.          47 


LETTER  X. 

BY  WAY  OF  PROLOGUE — EN  ROUTE  TO  AUSTRALIA  AS  COM- 
MISSIONER TO  THE  MELBOURNE  EXPOSITION — NOTES  BY 
THE  WAY — THE  ROMANCE  OF  A  WHISKEY  BOTTLE — 
ARRIVAL  IN  DENVER. 

DENVER,  COLO.,  June  24,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy: 

I  might  preface  this  my  first  letter,  resultant  from 
the  trip  now  in  progress,  with  some  observations  upon 
the  difficulty  every  traveler  meets  in  obtaining  accu- 
rate information  outside  of  guide-books,  or  where 
guide-books  are  not  available,  and  the  consequent 
temptation  to  plagiarize  more  or  less  whenever  a 
favorable  opportunity  is  afforded.  If  what  I  shall 
write  of  my  experiences  and  observation  is  not  always 
wholly  original — and  I  cannot  promise  that  every 
line  of  it  will  be — I  am  sure  you  will  be  the  gainer 
thereby. 

After  leaving  the  hills  of  Ljnchburg  behind  us, 
nothing  new  or  noteworthy  occurred  until  we  reached 
Chattanooga,  where  we  spent  two  days  looking  for 
lost  baggage.  A  visit  to  Lookout  Mountain  and  trip 
to  the  top  on  the  cable  cars  was  a  revelation  to  my 
fellow-traveler  and  myself.  The  incline  is  fully  75 
degrees,  and  I  would  estimate  the  distance  to  the 
top  at  about  a- half  or  three-fourths  of  a  mile.  The 
cars  are  about  the  size  of  those  used  upon  our  streets 


48  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

that  are  propelled  by  mule  or  horse  power.     We  ob- 
served in  getting  aboard  that  the  cars  were  provided 
with  a  cow-catcher  in  front  and  rear.     After  starting 
John  asks :  "  Mr.  Conductor,  is  it  possible  you  need 
a  cow-catcher  on  a  road  as  steep  as  this?     Why,  a 
goat  could  scarcely  climb  up  here!"     "Oh  yes,"  re- 
plied the  conductor,  "we  find  it  useful  in  shoving  the 
mountain  cows  off  the  track."     Both  John  and  my- 
self are  both  as  quiet  as  mice  for  a  brief  time  after 
this  episode,  but  on  nearing  the  top,  a  few  minutes 
later,  my  companion  "  got  even."     There,  standing 
close  to  the  track,  was  a  mountain  cow  engaged  in 
pensively  chewing  an  old  sardine  box,  its  long,  white 
beard  waving  in  the  wind.     John,  turning  to  the 
conductor,  says :  "This  is  one  of  those  cows,  ain't  it?" 
"Yes,"  was  the 'reply.     "Well,"  remarked  John,  "I 
think  you  ought  to  look  after  that  cow  right  away, 
as  its  milk  is  spoiling ;  I  could  smell  it  as  we  passed." 
The  conductor  said  nothing,  though  doubtless  he  felt 
bad.     We  soon  arrived  at  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tain and  found  a  fine  hotel,  where  we  obtained  a  glass 
of  soda-water— would  probably  have  secured  some- 
thing else,  but  for  the  fact  that  prohibition  prevailed 
in  all  directions  for  four  miles  around.     From  the 
hotel  three  flights  of  rickety  steps  take  us  to  the  top 
of  the  immense  rock  crowning  the  summit.     As  we 
reach  the  top  of  the  rock  a  voice  at  our  elbow  says, 
"Twenty-five  cents,   please."     "What  for?"  we   de- 
mand.    "  This  is  the  charge  for  visiting  the  rock," 
we  are  informed.     We  could  almost  imagine  we  were 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  49 

in  merry  old  England  again,  where  every  one  you 
meet  expects  you  to  tip  him. 

We  stopped  in  Nashville  one  day  and  visited 
Vanderbilt  University  and  the  capitol.  This  is  em- 
phatically a  Methodist  city.  The  grounds  of  the 
University  are  beautifully  shaded  with  a  great  variety 
of  native  trees,  while  the  air  fairly  vibrates  with  the 
songs  of  birds.  At  every  turn  in  the  walks  is  a 
notice  warning  visitors  against  harming  or  frightening 
the  feathered  songsters.  We  reach  St.  Louis  on  the 
17th,  and  have  a  contest  with  the  railroad  officials 
about  our  tickets,  which  had  been  secured  in  advance 
by  Mr.  Warren  Rohr,  the  agent  of  the  Norfolk  and 
Western  road  at  Lynchburg.  We  got  them  properly 
arranged  after  a  day's  hard  work  and  left  for  Kansas 
City  on  the  19th,  where  we  arrived  at  8  P.  M.  and 
left  at  9:40  for  this  city.  As  we  rolled  slowly  along 
the  Northern  Pacific  in  our  comfortable  Pullman  car, 
I  noticed  in  the  distance  ahead,  close  to  the  track,  a 
bright  glimmering  object,  the  sunbeams  sparkling  and 
flashing  from  it  in  beautiful  prismatic  colors ;  its 
round,  opaque  sides  looked  familiar,  yet  for  the  life 
of  me  I  could  not  make  out  what  it  was.  We  ap- 
proached nearer,  and  yet  nearer,  when  suddenly  it 
dawned  upon  me  in  its  full  glory.  A  lone  whiskey 
bottle  lay  glinting  and  shimmering  in  the  sun  light, 
all  alone  and  forgotten  on  the  wide  prairie.  How  I 
longed  to  hold  it  in  my  hands,  and  perchance  to  draw 
the  stopper  and  sniff  the  faint  odor  of  the  departed 
spirits — of  old  rye,  perhaps,  new  corn,  possibly,  of 


50  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

the  vile  mescal  with  which  I  was  once  familiar,  only 
by  sight  though,  along  the  Mexican  border  years  ago. 
Had  any  other  member  of  the  Lynchburg  fishing 
party  seen  it  a  mile  off  they  would  have  recognized 
it  at  once;  certaily  J.  K.,  W.  0.,  G.  W.  S.,  E.  A.  A., 
or  the  General  would  have  done  so,  but  as  I  am  noted 
for  my  abstemiousness,  I  may  well  be  excused  for  my 
stupidity.  Previous  to  the  above  incident,  I  had 
begun  to  believe  that  the  prairies  held  nothing  to 
interest  me,  and  really  thought 

"  The  plain  was  grassy,  wild  and  bare, 
Wide,  wide  and  open  to  the  air." 

Now,  however,  I  discovered  that  they  were,  to  say  the 
least,  not  entirely  bare. 

Touching  Denver,  a  few  words  at  this  point.  Most 
of  her  present  leading  men  came  here  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  town's  existence,  but  their  energies  were 
sadly  hampered  from  the  fact  that  everything  had  to 
be  hauled  600  miles  across  the  plains  by  teams.  It 
frequently  happened  that  merchants  would  sell  their 
goods  completely  out,  put  up  their  shutters  and  go 
fishing  for  weeks,  before  the  new  semi-yearly  supply 
arrived.  Now,  with  railway  communication,  all  this 
is  changed.  She  is  now'  a  cultivated  and  beautiful 
city  of  75,000  people.  Her  streets  are  very  broad, 
and  everywhere  shaded  with  lines  of  cotton  wood 
trees,  abundant  in  foliage  and  of  graceful  proportions. 
On  each  side  of  every  street  there  flows  a  constant 
stream  of  water  as  clear  and  as  cool  as  that  of  a 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  51 

mountain  brook,  the  source  of  which  is  a  dozen  miles 
southward,  whence  the  water  is  conducted  in  an  open 
channel.  There  are  said  to  be  250  miles  of  these 
irrigating  ditches  and  gutters,  and  275,000  shade 
trees.  The  swish  and  gurgle  and  sparkle  of  waters 
are  always  present  in  Denver,  and  always  must  be, 
for  thus  she  defies  the  desert  and  dissipates  the 
dreaded  dust.  The  residents  of  the  city  are  very 
proud  of  their  school  buildings,  which  are  constructed 
and  managed  upon  the  most  improved  plans.  The 
fuel  of  the  city  was  formerly  wholly  composed  of 
lignite  coal  which  comes  from  the  foot  hills,  but  the 
extension  of  the  railway  to  Canyon  City,  El  Moro, 
and  the  Gunnison,  have  made  the  harder  and  less 
sulphurous  coal  accessible  and  cheap.  The  water 
supply  is  distributed  through  forty  miles  of  mains. 
Average  consumption,  3,000,000  gallons  daily.  There 
is  a  paid  fire  department  costing  $60,000  annually. 
A  branch  of  the  United  States  mint  is  located  here. 
There  are  eight  banks — six  national  and  two  State. 
These  facts  prove  that  this  city  of  the  desert  is  upon 
a  firm  financial  basis.  Of  the  people,  it  may  be  said, 
there  is  a  most  charming  freedom  of  acquaintance 
and  intercouse,  embellished  with  the  polish  and 
good  breeding  of  rank,  devoid  of  the  chill  and  ex- 
clusiveness  of  regard  for  "  who  was  your  grand- 
father." Yet  this  winsome  good-fellowship  by  no 
means  descends  to  vulgarity  or  permits  itself  to  be 
abused. 


52  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

ON  THE  BAIL. 

Now  for  the  Rockies.  Away  we  go.  Why  can 
we  not  go  on  always?  Have  it  said  of  us  while 
living,  going,  going ;  and,  when  dead,  written  over 
us,  gone. 

At  Denver  we  take  the  Denver  arid  Rio  Grande 
railroad,  which  passes  over  the  most  picturesque  part 
of  our  continent.  It  is  unfortunately  a  narrow-gauge 
road,  which  is  its  only  drawback.  The  distance  it 
really  runs  is  about  700  miles,  which  could  easily  be 
shortened,  to  say  550  miles.  Inasmuch,  however,  as 
it  was  subsidized  by  the  government  in  order  to 
secure  its  construction,  it  was  made  as  long  as  possible. 
For  example,  say  the  subsidy  was  $15,000  a  mile, 
when  smooth  sections  were  reached  where  the  road 
could  be  built  for.  say  $3,000  per  mile,  it  was  made 
to  go  over  just  twice  as  much  ground  by  curves  and 
twists  as  was  necessary ;  and  thereby  $12,000  per 
mile  was  secured  as  profit.  All  of  this  is  now  in 
process  of  being  looked  into  by  Congress,  I  believe, 
and  the  lands  granted  are  being  recovered  by  the 
government  and  opened  to  settlers. 

Our  sleeping-car  party  consists  of  half  a  dozen  old 
maids  from  "  Bosting  "  out  on  an  exclamation  pil- 
grimage, about  the  same  number  of  young  men,  and 
several  old  gentlemen  and  their  wives.  There  was 
one  old  lady,  a  widow,  going  out  to  California  to  see 
her  son.  This  old  lady  bought  a  book  from  a  news- 
boy somewhere  near  Denver.  She  lost  the  book  on 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  53 

an  average  of  forty-eight  times  in  every  twelve  hours. 
Although  she  had  a  comfortable  section  in  the  car, 
she  would  move  her  baggage,  consisting  of  a  bandbox, 
a  bundle,  a  bag,  a  shawl-strap  bundle  and  lunch- 
basket,  from  seat  to  seat  all  day  and  every  hour  in 
the  day,  and  every  time  she  moved  she  lost  her 
book  "  that  cost  a  dollar,"  the  woman  informed  us  at 
every  search.  She  would  break  up  card  parties  and 
tete-a-tete  parties  every  fifteen  minutes  and  have  all 
the  baggage  piled  in  the  aisles  and  everybody  look- 
ing for  her  book,  till  she  became  such  a  nuisance  we 
all  called  her  by  common  consent  "  the  old  woman 
with  the  lost  book,"  and  every  one  in  the  party  com- 
menced to  watch  her.  As  soon  as  she  would  start  on 
her  rounds,  some  one  would  say  at  once,  "  You  put 
your  book  in  your  lunch-basket."  She  would  fish 
it  out  and  read  a  few  lines,  then  put  it  in  the  band- 
box. In  a  few  minutes  she  would  commence  looking 
around,  and  again  would  be  told  where  the  book  was. 
The  old  lady  finally  redeemed  herself,  however,  as 
will  be  seen  hereafter. 


54          SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER  XI. 

THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS — THE  GRANDEUR  AND  SUBLIMITY 
OF  THE  SCENERY — AMONG  THE  MORMONS— SALT  LAKE 
AND  SALT  LAKE  CITY — MEETING  OP  THE  WOMAN  OF  THE 
LOST  BOOK  AND  HER  SON — ARRIVAL  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

ON  THE  RAIL,  July  8,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

We  awoke  the  morning  after  leaving  Denver  to 
find  ourselves  in  the  heart  of  the  Rocky  Mountains/ 
Our  little  engine  puffs  and  blows  as  it  drags  our  train 
up  the  slopes  and  over  the  high  trestles,  the  canyons 
in  their  magnificent  grandeur  slowly  unfolding  them- 
selves to  view.  We  pass  through  the  garden  of  the 
Gods,  with  their  weird  and  fantastic  rock-capped 
columns.  Everything  in  view  is  on  a  gigantic  scale, 
and,  seen  from  the  observation  cars,  brings  forth  many 
exclamations  of  delight.  One  characteristic  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  is  its  system  of  vast  indentations, 
cutting  through  from  top  to  bottom  of  the  range. 
Some  of  these  take  the  form  of  funnels,  others  are 
deep,  tortuous  galleries,  known  as  passes  or  canyons, 
but  all  have  their  openings  toward  the  plains.  A 
theory  :  The  descending  masses  of  air  fall  into  these 
funnels  or  sinuous  canals,  as  they  slide  down,  concen- 
trating themselves  and  acquiring  a  vertical  motion. 
When  they  issue  from  the  mouth  of  the  gorge  at  the 
base  of  the  range  they  are  gigantic  augers,  with  a 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  55 

revolution  faster  than  man's  cunningest  machinery, 
and  a  cutting  edge  of  silex  obtained  from  the  first 
sand  heat  caught  up  by  their  fury ;  thus  armed  with 
their  own  resistless  motion  and  an  incisive  thread  of 
the  hardest  mineral,  next  to  the  diamond,  they  sweep 
on  over  the  plains  to  excavate,  pull  down  or  carve  in 
new  forms  whatever  friable  formation  lies  in  their 
path. 

A  few  remarks  from  the  observation  car  as  it  passes 
through  the  garden  of  the  Gods,  and  the  canyons 
around  the  mountain  tops,  or  glides  close  to  the  edge 
of  some  stupendous  cliff  of  granite  and  we  look  down 
upon  a  long  thread  of  silver  1,500  feet  below,  a  river 
of  considerable  volume,  closed  in  by  walls  of  basaltic 
rock,  rising  sheer  1,500  or  2,000  feet  above  it.  The 
effect  of  the  appalling  depth  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
scribe. Can  you  realize  what  2,000  feet  means  when 
suspended  upon  two  small  rails  above  this  height  ? 
I  cannot  form  words  to  express  it.  If  the  most  gifted 
writers  acknowledge  the  impossibility  of  conveying 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  extraordinary  appearance  of 
this  country  when  describing  it  in  detail,  how  can 
I  expect  to  do  it  in  the  few  lines  that  I  can  devote 
to  it  ?  That  it  is  worth  coming  all  the  way  from 
Virginia  to  see,  is  saying  very  little.  I  might  try  to 
compare  it  with  something  with  which  you  are 
familiar,  but  when  there  is  nothing  else  in  the  world 
like  it,  what  am  I  to  do  ?  Well,  amid  all  of  this 
grandeur,  we  (John  and  myself)  got  very  tired  of  one 
of  the  old  maids  that  wore  magnifying  glasses,  ex- 


56  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

claiming,  "Oh,  how  grand  !  "  "  Oh,  how  superb  !  " 
etc.,  and  "  See  the  lovely  light  and  shadow  on  the 
snow  "  (there  was  lots  of  snow  all  around  us).  Fortu- 
nately, just  about  the  time  she  was  in  full  swing,  and 
as  we  greatly  feared  would  turn  into  an  exclamation 
point,  a  miserable,  long-shanked,  saw-legged  Kansas 
grasshopper  lazily  sailed  into  view,  and  to  our  sur- 
prise and  delight  she  exclaimed  :  "  Oh,  what  a  lovely 
bird  !  How  gracefully  he  flies  !  What  beautiful  plu- 
mage !  Oh,  can  any  one  name  it?  "  "  Yes,  marrn," 
says  John,  "it  is  called  the  great  Rocky  Mountain 
condor;  they  are  very  scarce  now,  as  the  Modoc 
Indians  are  quite  fond  of  their  flesh,  and  have,  it  is 
said,  almost  exterminated  the  race."  A  funeral  pall 
fell  upon  the  crowd,  and  the  beautiful  scenery  was 
enjoyed  in  peace  for  the  next  hour. 

We  are  rapidly  whirled  down  the  slope  of  the 
mountain,  through  the  foot-hills  and  out  on  the  alkali 
plains  of  Utah.  The  burning  dust  fills  our  eyes  and 
nose;  they  are  inflamed;  our  lips  crack  and  seem 
parched ;  to  laugh  is  agony,  and  to  move  a  muscle 
of  the  face  makes  it  feel  as  though  we  had  on 
a  mask  tightly  glued  to  the  skin.  We  roll  in  our 
berth  and  awake  in  Salt  Lake  City.  We  are  soon 
out  of  the  cars  and  among  the  Mormons.  Our  first 
visit  is  to  the  new  tabernacle,  so  called  to  distinguish 
it  from  the  old  tabernacle  which  formerly  stood  near 
it.  There  is  nothing  very  attractive  about  the  outside 
appearance  of  this  building  ;  to  be  appreciated,  it 
must  be  viewed  from  the  inside.  It  is  elliptical  in 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  57 

shape,  250  feet  long  by  150  wide,  and  70  feet  high 
from  floor  to  ceiling.  The  interior  of  the  building 
presents  an  oval  arch  without  any  centre  supports — 
the  largest  self-supporting  arch  in  the  United  States, 
I  am  told.  A  little  south  of  the  tabernacle  stands 
the  temple,  which  is  a  superb  granite  building, 
copied,  I  think,  from  a  description  of  Solomon's 
temple.  The  following  inscription  appears  on  a  large 
tablet-  stone  placed  in  the  face  of  the  east  centre 
tower  : 

"  Holiness  to  the  Lord." 

"The  House  of  the  Lord." 

"  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints." 

"  Commenced  April  6,  1853." 

"  Completed  -     — , ." 

The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  April.  1853,  as  stated 
in  the  inscription,  but  it  will  be  many  years  yet  ere 
this  building  is  completed.  About  one  block  away 
stand  the  residences  of  the  late  Brigham  Young. 
The  first  is  known  as  the  Lion  House ;  a  statue  of  a 
lion,  crouching,  being  placid  over  the  entrance.  The 
Bee-Hive  house  comes  next ;  a  carved  bee-hive  (the 
insignia  of  Utah)  crowns  this  edifice.  Near  by  are 
several  houses  occupied  by  the  deceased  Young's 
wives,  among  which  the  most  imposing  is  Amelia's 
palace.  The  altitude  of  the  city  is  more  than  4,000 
feet  above  sea  level.  All  of  the  streets  are  bordered 
with  shade  trees  and  running  brooks.  Every  street 
is  132  ieet  wide,  so  you  can  well  imagine  it  is  a  city 
of  "  magnificent  distances." 


58  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

About  noon  we  take  the  cars  for  Salt  Lake,  and 
after  a  run  of  fifteen  miles  reach  Lake  Park,  a  popular 
bathing  place.  The  writer  dons  a  bathing  suit  and 
in  he  goes.  The  water  of  the  Lake  contains  22  per 
cent,  of  pure  salt,  rendering  it  so  buoyant  that  the 
least  possible  effort  is  necessary  to  maintain  one's 
epuilibrium.  As  sinking  is  out  of  the  question,  I 
float  for  almost  fifteen  minutes  with  feet  and  hands 
out  of  the  water.  For  a  long  time  the  wonders  of 
this  marvelous  salt  sea  have  been  heralded  afar,  but 
the  theme  is  one  of  never-ceasing  interest,  which  can 
be  dwelt  upon  in  a  thousand  moods  without  risk  of 
tiring  the  reader.  Island  mountains  spring  from  its 
blue  depths,  whose  lonely  shores  are  rarely  traversed 
by  human  footsteps,  and  whose  heights  have  never 
been  explored.  What  wild  and  romantic  scenes, 
fraught  with  mystery  of  isolation  and  seclusion,  may 
lie  hidden  amid  their  lofty  summits  no  one  can  say. 
They  lie  silent  and  solitary  in  the  wilderness  of  for- 
bidding waters.  There  is  a  place  on  Church  Island 
where  a  sharp  and  rocky  ridge  stretches  down  to  the 
sea,  where  the  stormy  northwest  winds  of  centuries 
have  hollowed  out  the  rocks  along  the  shore,  carving 
them  into  fantastic  shapes,  which  point  their  fingers 
skyward,  or  arch  gracefully  over  the  green  waves 
that  lap  against  them.  On  this  shore  the  wild  winds 
fling  the  spray  up  the  cliffs,  coating  them  with  salt 
that  hangs  in  stalactites  in  the  crevices  and  on  the 
dead  limbs  of  the  stunted  trees,  or  glistens  like  glass 
on  the  smooth,  round  boulders  piled  along  the  coast. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL,  59 

Sea  gulls,  with  snowy  plumage,  sweep  over  the 
crusted  water  in  great  numbers.  This  Dead  Sea  of 
America — is  there  anything  on  earth  like  unto  it  ? 
I  cannot  believe  that  the  broken  walls  that  now  cover 
the  sites  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  can  compare  with 
it.  We  return  to  the  city  and  take  the  South  Pacific 
for  San  Francisco. 

Away  we  rush  through  the  alkali  desert  again. 
At  Humboldt  Sinks  we  witness  the  mirage,  a  seeming 
lake  of  sparkling  water,  which  proves  to  be  only  a 
wide  plain  of  alkali.  Oh  !  how  our  eyes  inflame,  and 
smart  and  sting.  Our  lips  are  dry  and  parched. 
Water  gives  but  little  relief.  Our  hair  and  beard 
feel  like  wire  and  our  cheeks  are  seamed  and  wrinkled 
like  "  She  "  after  her  second  bath  in  the  purple  fires 
of  immortality.  We  draw  near  the  Sierras,  and 
begin  to  feel  the  cool  mountain  breezes. 

At  a  station  just  as  we  enter  the  foot-hills  of  Cali- 
fornia, a  powerfully  built  man,  apparently  about 
forty-five,  enters  our  car.  After  a  careful  scrutiny 
of  each  member  of  our  party,  he  stopped  at  my  seat 
and  asks:  "Is  there  a  Mrs.  WTade  on  this  car?" 
"  Yes,"  I  say,  and  point  out  the  old  woman  with  the 
lost  boob:.  A  great,  joyful  light  shines  in  his  eye : 
"  Mother,  mother!  don't  you  know  me?  I  am  Harry!  " 
The  old  lady  attempts  to  rise — she  throws  her  arms 
around  Harry's  neck.  "  Oh,  God,  I  thank  Thee,  it  is 
my  boy."  We  are  spell-bound  ;  we  forget  the  time, 
place,  everything,  and  live,  move  and  have  our  being 
in  Harry  and  his  ma.  She  laughs  and  we  all  laugh. 


60  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

Our  parched  lips  crack  open.  Our  crisp  cheeks  split 
in  every  direction.  We  are  in  agony  ;  she  cries— we 
all  cry — she  laughs  again — we  don't  laugh  any  more, 
but  continue  to  cry  and  keep  it  up  till  the  cars  roll 
into  Sacramento.  "  Twenty-five  minutes  for  fresh 
air,"  calls  out  the  porter— out  we  all  tumble  and 
drink  soda-water  and  such  like  by  the  quart.  Away 
we  skim  over  the  wide  wheat  fields  of  California — 
past  immense  orchards  of  figs,  apricots,  cherries  and 
peaches,  all  in  full  bearing.  At  the  first  station  out 
from  Sacramento,  "  Harry  "  gets  out  and  buys  a  dozen 
large  figs  for  his  ma.  She  beams  on  the  dear  boy 
and  declares  there  is  nothing  she  likes  half  so  well 
as  figs  ;  he  makes  her  eat  them  all.  At  the  next  sta- 
tion he  buys  a  dozen  large  apricots ;  she  eats  them  all 
for  her  dear  boy's  sake.  We  all  get  uneasy.  At  the 
next  station  Harry  buys  a  dozen  large  plums  ;  he 
says  she  must  eat  them.  She  says  she  will  try,  to 
please  him.  She  eats  two  or  three  ;  a  far-away  look 
comes  over  her  kind,  motherly  face.  She  toys  with 
another  plum,  tries  to  eat  it ;  then  rises  suddenly  and 
rapidly  retires  to  the  ladies'  dressing  room  and  does 
not  return  for  half  an  hour.  She  looks  pale,  but 
there  is  a  happy  light  in  her  eyes  as  they  dwell 
fondly  on  her  boy.  We  all  forgive  the  old  lady,  and 
would  consider  it  a  privilege  to  look  for  her  book 
from  now  till  we  reach  San  Francisco,  which  we  do 
very  soon. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  61 


LETTER  XII. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  —  ITS  PERFECT  CAR  SYSTEM  —  MARVELOUS 
FRUITS  AND  FLOWERS — HORRORS  OF  THE  CHINESE 
QUARTEH — AN  OLD  VIRGINIA  DINNER— OLD  FRIENDS — 
SUTRO  PARK,  &C. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  June  8,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

This  is  a  city  of  enterprise  and  improvement.  The 
street- car  system  is  the  most  perfect  in  every  respect 
that  I  have  ever  seen.  Although  some  of  the  hills 
are  far  steeper  than  Bridge  street  or  even  Courthouse 
Hill  in  Lynchburg,  yet  the  cars  rush  up  and  down 
them  at  a  rate  of  seven  or  eight  miles  an  hour,  and 
withal  run  so  smoothly  that  you  can  write  comfortably 
on  them.  All  this  is  due  to  the  cable  system. 

The  fruits  and  flowers  are  marvels  of  beauty  and 
perfection.  Only  think  of  cherries  as  large  as  our 
blue  plums,  apricots  as  large  as  our  peaches,  with 
everything  in  the  fruit  and  vegetable  line  formed  on 
a  corresponding  scale.  The  walks  and  drives,  lined 
with  rose  and  fuschia  bushes,  pinks  and  geraniums, 
all  in  great  profusion,  of  mammoth  size  and  wondrous 
odor,  is  most  enticing  to  the  stranger. 

There  is  one  serious  blot,  however,  upon  this  other- 
wise lovely  picture,  which  it  is  well  at  this  point  to 
mention.  It  comes  from  the  horrible,  all-pervading 
smell  of  Chinatown.  It  possesses  an  individuality 


62  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

that  no  other  odor  on  earth  can  lay  claim  to.  On 
cold,  froggy  mornings,  or  at  a  mild,  windy  dawn,  long 
before  other  smells  are  up,  this  smell  has  had  its  fires 
made,  had  breakfast  and  is  ready  for  business.  It 
hates  a  "  Melican  man,"  and  will  skip  around  a  cor- 
ner or  jump  a  dozen  blocks  to  do  him  an  injury. 
Old  travelers  have  told  me  that  with  a  favorable 
breeze  you  can  smell  China  for  fifty-miles  out  at  sea. 
I  doubted  this  at  one  time.  My  doubts  have  been 
dispelled  since  my  visit  to  the  Chinese  quarter  of  San 
Francisco.  This  portion  of  the  city  is  an  exact 
counterpart  of  the  towns  and  cities  in  the  Chinese 
Empire,  and  for  filth,  degradation,  immorality  and 
disease,  it  is  doubtful  if  its  counterpart  can  be  found 
on  our  continent.  I  can  readily  understand,  after 
my  few  days  stay  here,  why  the  Pacific  coast  people 
are  willing  to  vote  for  any  one,  be  he  Republican, 
Democrat  or  Devil,  that  will  relieve  them  of  this 
curse  to  progress  and  to  Christianity.  Even  Dr. 
Hannon  informed  me  of  the  utter  hopelessness  of 
doing  anything  with  this  people. 

Mr.  Marion  Langhorne  and  his  charming  and 
hospitable  sister,  Mrs.  Langhorne,  gave  John,  Dr. 
Hannon  and  the  writer,  a  regular  old  Virginia  dinner, 
and  seasoned  it  with  true,  refined  Virginia  hospitality. 
We  met  Mrs.  Langhorne's  son,  an  intelligent,  hand- 
some young  gentleman  of  about  twenty  one  years, 
who  is  holding  a  very  responsible  position  in  the 
Pacific  steamship  service.  I  am  more  than  ever  im- 
pressed with  an  idea  that  has  long  been  one  of  my 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  63 

strongest  convictions,  viz :  that  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  be  born  at  all  unless  one  can  be  born  in 
old  Virginia.  An  old  college-mate  and  friend  of  the 
writer,  "Gus"  Berlin,  attorney-at-law,  was  exceed- 
ingly kind  to  John  and  myself  during  our  sojourn. 
He  took  us  out  to  the  Cliff  House,  some  four  miles 
from  the  city.  From  the  hotel  balcony  we  could  see 
hundreds  of  sea  lions  sunning  themselves  on  the 
rocks  a  few  hundred  feet  out  in  the  ocean ;  their 
roaring  and  barking  was  incessant.  Just  above  the 
hotel,  on  a  high  plateau  of  several  acres  in  extent, 
are  the  most  beautifully  laid  out  grounds  I  ever  saw. 
This  is  Sutro  Park,  owned  and  occupied  by  Mr. 
Adolph  Sutro,  of  tunnel  fame.  From  the  ramparts 
of  the  high  wall  surrounding  this  park  nothing  can 
present  a  more  sublime  and  beautiful  appearance 
than  the  wide,  gently  rolling  waters  of  the  Pacific 
under  an  azure  sky  without  a  cloud.  The  eye  sweeps 
over  a  vast  watery  plain  of  the  deepest  blue,  which 
extends  even  beyond  the  ken  of  the  imagination.  On 
our  right  we  see  the  Golden  Gate,  through  which 
ocean  vessels  must  needs  enter  the  bay  at  San  Fran- 
cisco. By  the  way,  this  is  a  veritable  land  of  gold. 
The  conductor  of  our  car  coming  out  had  a  full  set 
of  teeth,  upper  and  lower,  of  solid  gold.  Ask  John,  if 
you  don't  believe  me. 


64  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER   XIII. 

LEAVING   CALIFORNIA— OFF  FOR  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS- 
PACIFIC  OCEAN  MUSINGS— CELEBRATING  THE  FOURTH— 

"HOME,  SWEET  HOME" — A  TOUCHING  SONG  BEAUTIFULLY 

SUNG. 

S.  S.  MARIPOSA,  July  6,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

Promptly  at  3  P.  M.,  Sunday,  we  started  out  from 
the  Oceanic  wharf,  and  down  the  bay,  and  within  an 
hour  we  passed  through  the  Golden  Gate  and  were 
on  our  long  journey  across  the  wide  Pacific.  Looking 
over  the  wide  waste  of  waters,  rny  mind  reverted  to 
the  old  Spanish  adventurers.  I  thought  of  Vasco 
Nunez  de  Balboa,  the  first  discoverer  of  this  ocean, 
who  took  possession  of  it  in  the  name  and  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Spanish  Crown  in  the  following  high- 
flown  style  :  "  Long  live  the  high  and  mighty  monarch, 
Don  Ferdinand,  and  Donna  Juanna,  Sovereigns  of 
Leon  and  of  Arragon,  in  whose  name  and  for  the 
royal  Crown  of  Castile  I  take  real  and  corporeal  and 
actual  possession  of  these  seas  and  lands  and  coasts 
and  ports,  and  islands  of  the  South  and  all  there- 
unto annexed,"  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

It  was  indeed  one  of  the  most  splendid  discov- 
eries that  had  yet  been  made  in  the  new  world,  and 
must  have  opened  a  boundless  field  of  conjecture  to 
the  wondering  Spaniards.  The  imagination  delights 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  65 

to  picture  the  splendid  confusion  of  their  thoughts. 
Was  this  the  great  Indian  Ocean,  studded  with  pre- 
cious islands,  abounding  in  gold  and  gems  and  spices, 
and  bordered  by  the  gorgeous  cities  and  wealthy 
marts  of  the  East,  or  was  it  some  lonely  sea  locked 
up  in  the  embraces  of  savage,  uncultivated  continents 
and  never  traversed  by  a  bark,  save  the  light  pirogue 
of  the  Indians?  The  latter  could  hardly  be  true, 
for  the  natives  had  told  the  Spaniards  of  golden 
realms  and  luxurious  and  populous  nations  upon  its 
shores.  Perhaps  it  might  be  bordered  by  various 
peoples,  civilized  in  fact,  yet  differing  from  European 
civilization,  who  might  have  peculiar  laws  and  cus- 
toms, arts  and  sciences  ;  who,  in  truth,  might  form  a 
world  of  their  old,  inter-communing  through  their 
mighty  ocean  and  carrying  on  commerce  between 
their  own  islands  and  continent,  but  who  might  exist 
in  total  ignorance  and  independence  of  another  hemis- 
phere. At  the  period  of  which  I  write,  no  dream 
was  too  wild  to  entertain,  and  even  at  the  present 
time  there  is  a  mystery  and  an  enchantment  that 
hangs  over  this  mighty  body  of  water  that  renders 
it  a  constant  theme  with  the  novelist. 

Among  our  passengers  are  T.  C.  Williams,  wife, 
son  and  daughter,  and  Maj.  Ginter,  niece  and  servant, 
of  Richmond.  Almost  as  soon  as  we  passed  out  of 
the  Golden  Gate  .a  squall  struck  us,  and  almost  every 
passenger  became  sick ;  even  John,  who  has  crowed 
over  me  since  our  trip  to  Europe  last  year,  when  he 
proved  himself  such  a  good  sailor,  collapsed  com- 


66  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

pletely,  and  was  as  sick,  yellow  and  disconsolate  a 
poor  fellow  as  I  ever  saw.  All  night  the  wind  howled 
through  the  rigging,  and  our  little  tub  (for  she  is  no 
better)  rolled  and  tossed.  The  next  day  opened 
calm' and  bright.  We  all  gathered  on  deck  on  the 
4th  of  July  and  celebrated  it  in  great  style.  We 
had  two  orations.  A  girl  twelve  years  old  repeated 
the  Declaration  of  Independence;  a  lot  of  New 
Englanders  sang  the  "  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  and 
a  party  of  Englishmen  sang  "  God  save  the  Queen." 
There  were  toasts  and  short  talks,  songs  and  long 
sentiments,  etc.,  while  altogether  we  had  quite  a  jolly 

day. 

We  have  had  the  trade-winds  with  us  for  several 
(lay8_at  least  I  suppose  it  is  the  trade ;  at  any 
rate,  a  soft,  gentle  breeze  has  filled  our  sails,  yet 
the  waves  have  been  scarcely  perceptible.  We  are 
bowling  along  on  an  almost  even  keel.  All  space  is 
filled  with  a  divine  gray-blue  effulgence,  which  has 
to  my  wondering  fancy  always  seemed  to  be  the 
trade-wind  itself— the  only  visible  wind  I  know  of. 
It  is  not  too  hot  nor  too  cold,  not  too  bright  nor  too 
dull ;  and  the  ship  is  going  fast  and  smooth,  keeling 
over  just  enough  to  make  everything  you  lean  against 
as  pleasant  as  a  rocking-chair,  going  with  a  gentle, 
heaving  motion  for  which  it  would  be  absurd  to  hunt 
up  a  simile,  because  there  is  nothing  so  wonderfully 
delightful  wherewith  to  compare  it.  There  are  clouds, 
slow-sailing  clouds,  but  they  are  of  frosted  silver,  and 
there  is  open  sky,  but  of  the  very  faintest  blue,  save 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  67 

immediately  overhead  where  the  delicate  needle  of 
our  top-gallant  mast  sweeps  across  it  ill  a  shortened 
arc  and  where  it  is  a  faint  purple.  There  are  sounds  ; 
one  a  gentle,  universal  rush,  that  of  wind  itself  fill- 
ing space,  and  others,  supplementary  voices  ;  the  low, 
gentle  lapping  of  the  waves  upon  the  ship's  sides  and 
the  sleepy,  gurgling  and  hissing  of  many  eddies 
around  her.  All  things  seem  to  be  going  one  way 
with  some  settled  purpose.  The  clouds  seem  to  be 
leading  the  wind  and  the  wind  to  be  steadily  follow- 
ing the  clouds,  while  the  blue  and  purple  waves,  a 
joyous,  busy  crowd,  seem  to  be  hurrying  on  after  both 
of  them  to  some  unknown  trysting-place.  Yes,  I 
know  we  are  in  the  trades.  If  the  above  is  not  mine, 
whose  is  it  ? 

What  a  lazy,  good-for-nothing  life  we  are  leading ; 
we  rise  at  8  A.  M.  and  breakfast ;  then  a  short  walk 
of  perhaps  half  an  hour;  then  to  our  deck  chair; 
luncheon  at  1  and  dinner  at  6 ;  tea  at  8  to  9,  and 
then  to  the  social  hall  for  games  and  music.  There 
is  a  noted  singer  aboard,  traveling  "incog."  She 
sang  for  us  last  night  "  Home,  Sweet  Home."  My 
heart  was  full  to  overflowing  ;  my  dear  ones  came 
vividly  before  my  mind's  eye.  How  beautifully  she 
sang.  Towards  the  close  of  each  verse  the  god-like 
voice  went  sweeping  through  airy  fields  of  sound  like 
a  lark  upon  the  wing,  until  it  paused  aloft  in  a  wild, 
melancholy  minor,  and  then  came  gently  down  like 
the  weary  bird  dropping,  tired,  sad  with  too  much 
joy,  to  its  nest  amidst  the  grass.  I  retired  abruptly  to 


68  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

my  cabin,  to  lie  awake  hour  after  hour  and  finally 
sleep  and  dream  of  home,  wife,  children  and  friends. 
Day  after  day  this  do-nothing  existence  goes  on,  till 
I  think  of  the  following  lines,  and  only  wish  the  poor 
woman  had  tried  a  trip  across  the  Pacific.  This  was 
her  soliloquy : 

"  Here  lies  a  poor  woman  who  always  was  tired, 
For  she  lived  in  a  world  where  loo  much  was  required. 
Weep  not  for  me,  friends,  for  I  am  going 
Where  there's  no  reading  or  writing  or  sewing ; 
Weep  not  for  me,  friends,  for  when  life's  thread  doth  sever, 
I'm  going  to  do  nothing  for  ever  and  ever." 

She  could  have  found  no  better  place  on  earth  to 
do  nothing  than  on  the  deck  of  a  Pacific  steamer. 
We  expect  to  sight  Honolulu  soon,  and  then  for  a  few 
hours  on  terra  firma  and  a  glimpse  of  the  lands  of 
fruits,  flowers,  volcanoes,  lepers  and  other  queer,  hor- 
rible, beautiful  and  wonderful  things. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.          69 


LETTER   XIV. 

THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS — VISIT  TO  CONSUL  SCHAEFER  — 
CHARMINGLY  ENTERTAINED — HORRORS  OF  LEPROSY — 
BEAUTY  OF  THE  ISLAND  OF  HONOLULU  AND  ITS  HARBOR 
— HARROWING  STORY  OF  A  WRECK. 

HONOLULU,  S.  L,  July  8,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

We  arrived  in  port  at  8  A.  M.  to-day,  and  in  as- 
cending the  grand  stairway  from  the  saloon  to  the 
deck  saw  the  following  posted  notice :  "  The  Mari- 
posa  will  sail  at  2  P.  M.,  sharp."  John  and  myself 
promptly  disembarked,  and  securing  a  carriage,  drove 
to  the  Hawaiian  Hotel,  where  we  breakfasted.  Our 
fruit  bill  of  fare  consisted  of  cantaloupes,  mangoes, 
bananas,  figs  and  a  half  dozen  other  tropical  fruits 
with  unpronounceable  names.  Immediately  after 
breakfast  we  hired  a  carriage  and  proceeded  to  "  do 
the  town.V  We  drove  to  Diamond  Head,  an  extinct 
volcano  which  rears  its  lofty  head  seven  hundred  feet 
above  sea  level ;  passed  cocoanut  and  banana  groves 
and  cottages  embowered  in  flowers  of  every  hue  and 
in  the  greatest  profusion.  During  our  drive,  a  caval- 
cade of  native  women  passed  us,  riding  cavalier 
fashion  and  going  at  top  speed.  You  can  imagine 
our  surprise  when  we  learned  that  there  was  not  a 
woman'?  saddle  on  the  island,  and  that  not  only  the 


70  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

native  women,  but  the  white,  all  ride  man  fashion. 
All  of  the  natives,  whites  and  Chinese,  wear  the 
native  costume  called  holoku,  which  is  simply  our 
Mother  Hubbard,  only  a  little  more  so.  When  riding, 
they  put  on  bloomers  under  the  holoku.  and  wear  a 
spur  on  each  foot. 

At  10:30  we  drove  up  to  Mr.  Shaefer's  to  present 
a  letter  given  the  writer  by  our  townsman,  Mr.  Ed- 
mund Schaefer,  to  his  brother,  who  is  German  consul 
here.  Had  I  been  searching  for  the  lost  garden  of 
Eden  I  could  have  rested  content  here.  To  say  that 
this  is  a  wondrously  beautiful  place  does  not  convey 
the  shadow  of  the  substance.  Only  think  of  acres 
of  smooth,  green  grass  interspersed  with  tropical 
flowers,  fruits,  cocoanuts,  mangoes,  mountain  ap- 
ples, bananas,  and  in  fact  everything  to  please  the 
eye  or  gratify  the  palate.  Just  behind  the  house 
rises  in  majestic  grandeur  a  mighty  mountain  peak, 
on  whose  top  ever  circles  a  misty  cloud,  and  as  we 
look  away  down  the  misty  slope — a  mile  away — there 
glimmer  the  ever-varying  waters  of  the  parti-colored 
Pacific,  with  its  foam  crested  breakers  rolling  over 
the  coral  reefs,  which  almost  completely  encircle  the 
island.  No  brother,  no  life-long  friend  could  have 
been  kinder  to  us  than  were  Mr.  Shaefer  and  his 
charming  wife.  Everything  that  kind  hearts  could 
do  was  done  for  us,  and  there  was  no  mistaking  the 
genuine  hospitality  of  our  entertainers.  Even  their 
little  ones  vied  with  each  other  in  efforts  to  make  our 
visit  pleasant ;  and  when  we  left,  which  was  not  till 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  71 

1:30,  our  carriage  was  loaded  down  with  tropical 
fruits,  the  gift  of  our  new  friends.  This  visit  will 
ever  remain  an  oasis  in  our  memory.  Mr.  Childs  re- 
remarked  that  there  might  be  many  good  arid  beau- 
tiful women  in  Honolulu,  but  that  he  felt  perfectly 
satisfied  that  Mr.  Schaefer  had  drawn  the  prize  of 
King  Kalakaua's  domain.  1  say,  amen. 

This  group  of  islands  constitute  a  perfect  paradise, 
with  one  exception :  the  dark  cloud  that  constantly 
hovers  over  everything  is  that  most  loathsome  of  all 
diseases,  leprosy.  A  boat  leaves  Honolulu  for  the 
Leper  Island ;  the  heart-rending  cries  of  husband 
separating  from  wife,  mother  and  lather  from  their 
children,  and  lover  from  sweetheart,  ring  in  our  ears 
and  go  echoing  up  to  the  great  white  throne,  till  my 
heart  asks  the  question,  Why  does  a  merciful  God 
allow  this  dreadful  scourge  to  afflict  his  children  ? 
Does  it  doubt  the  goodness  of  God  ?  I  cannot  answer. 
Such  misery  I  never  saw  before.  This  disease  is  be- 
yond the  power  of  my  feeble  pencil  to  describe.  It 
first  shows  itself  in  the  bleared  eyes  of  the  victim, 
then  the  fingers  and  toes  drop  off  joint  by  joint,  the 
cheek-bones  protrude  through  the  flesh  and  skin,  the 
lobes  of  the  ears  elongate — but  I  will  stop ;  it  is  too 
horrible  to  think  or  write  about.  The  wife  of  our 
chief  commissioner  spent  a  year  on  the  Islands,  and 
gave  me  an  account  of  some  of  her  experiences. 
During  the  first  three  months  of  her  stay  she  took 
milk  and  butter  from  one  of  her  Hawaiian  neighbors. 
About  the  close  of  her  third  month's  residence,  a 


72  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

friend  asked  her  who  furnished  her  with  milk  and 
butter.  She  gave  the  name  of  the  neighbor.  "  Why, 
he  is  a  leper,"  remarked  the  gentleman  (a  Catholic 
priest).  "  Look  at  his  hand  when  he  brings  your 
supply  to-morrow."  "  I  don't  believe  it,"  remarked 
Mrs.  McCoppin  ;  "  they  would  send  him  to  the  Leper 
Island."  "  You  will  soon  learn,"  the  gentleman  re- 
marked, "  that  the  natives  use  every  effort  to  keep 
the  disease  from  the  knowledge  of  the  authorities," 
which  is  a  sad  fact.  Even  the  King  and  Court  will 
make  no  effort  to  eradicate  this  scourge,  and  those 
now  being  made  are  due  to  the  unremitting  work  of 
the  English  and  American  residents.  Well,  the  next 
morning  Mrs.  McCoppin  received  the  milk-man  in 
person,  and  to  her  dismay  found  that  the  joints  of 
his  fingers  on  the  left  hand  were  all  gone.  In  a  few 
days  the  man  and  one  or  two  members  of  his  family 
were  banished  to  the  Leper  Island.  She  also  told 
me  of  a  woman  (native)  who  married  ;  her  husband 
developed  a  case  of  leprosy  and  was  banished  to  the 
Island.  This  is  a  legal  divorce.  This  woman  married 
again,  and  within  the  year  the  second  husband  be- 
came a  leper  and  was  banished.  Again  she  married, 
and  again  her  husband  was  a  leper  in  twelve  months, 
yet  all  this  time  she  had  shown  no  sign  of  the  disease. 
She  went  with  her  third  husband  to  the  Island,  and 
to-day  she  is  a  leper  as  white  as  snow.  Mrs.  Schaefer 
informed  me  that  there  are  three  Catholic  priests  who 
went  to  the  Island  to  teach  these  poor  creatures  of 
our  Lord,  who  are  to-day  loathsome  lepers.  Does 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  73 

God  require  any  such  sacrifice  as  this  of  us  ?     I  can- 
not believe  it.     But  enough  of  this. 

What  would  I  not  give  to  be  able  to  describe  the 
beauty  of  this  Island  and  harbor  !  A  great  billowy 
waste  of  mountain  lay  beyond  the  town,  among  which 
played  the  shadows  of  the  over  hanging  clouds  at 
their  games  of  hide-and-seek,  graciously  merry  in  the 
eyes  of  the  happy  man,  but  sadly  solemn  to  him  in 
whose  heart  the  dreary  thoughts  of  the  past  are 
engaged  at  a  similar  game.  Just  below  the  clouds, 
snowy  sea-gulls,  not  unlike  the  thoughts  of  a  lady, 
flitted  about  in  gradually  lessening  circles  until  they 
seemed  suspended  in  the  soft  air  over  our  heads. 
The  marked  variation  in  the  color  of  the  ocean  among 
the  coral  reefs  is  magical.  Close  to  shore  it  is  a  deli- 
cate grey,  then  a  distinct  line  of  bottle  green,  then 
pale  blue,  next  orange  yellow,  and  then  dark  green, 
and  still  again  the  darkest  blue  tint,  with  many  other 
magic  colors,  striking  in  their  effect  as  viewed  beneath 
the  clear  evening  light  and  embossed  with  the  rays 
of  the  glowing  sun.  The  streets  of  the  Hawaiian 
capitol  are  clean  and  admirably  macadamized  with 
coral,  lava,  stone  and  sand.  At  night  they  are  lighted 
up  with  electricity.  The  city  has  about  30,000  in- 
habitants. But  a  brief  time  has  elapsed  since  this 
was  a  wilderness,  peopled  by  a  race  of  cannibals ;  to- 
day, nearly  all  the  rising  generation  can  read  and 
write.  The  government  spends  $50,000  a  year  on 
local  schools.  The  present  King,  Kalakaua,  is  very 
fond  of  gin  and  iast  horses,  yet  he  is  said  to  be  a 


74  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

man  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence  and  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  culture.  Morally,  he  has  no  traits 
of  character  which  command  respect,  and  is  at  times 
so  much  given  to  a  sensual  life  as  to  outrage  all  kingly 
associations,  incurring  the  disgust  of  even  his  most 
intimate  associates.  He  is  remarkably  superstitious, 
which  is  indeed  a  prevailing  trait  of  the  entire  nation. 
I  was  much  surprised  at  the  color  of  the  Hawaiians. 
They  are  of  a  very  light  yellow,  in  fact  some  of  them 
brighter  than  the  Chinese,  and  many  of  them  quite 
handsome,  and  all  of  them  graceful  in  their  bearing. 
Obesity  is  the  highest  type  of  beauty  among  the  na- 
tives, and  as  "  poy,"  which  is  the  national  dish,  has 
the  effect  of  fattening  rapidly,  there  are  consequently 
very  few  natives  that  are  not  handsome  after  the 
order  of  their  own  estimate.  The  currency  of  the 
Island  is  silver,  the  denominations  of  the  coins  being 
10c.,  25c.,  50c.  and  $1.00.  I  saw  no  gold  or  notes. 
United  States  5c.  nickels  are  used  for  small  change. 
I  saw  no  smaller  coins. 

ON   BOARD   THE  MARIPOSA. 

Our  steward  is  quite  a  character — he  has  gotten 
John  and  myself  down  quite  fine.  The  first  day  at 
table  John  declined  soup.  On  taking  our  seats  at 
dinner  the  second  day,  the  steward  remarked  to 
John :  "  You  don't  go  the  soup  racket  to-day,  sir. 
Will  you  have  some  fish  ?  "  "  No,  thank  you,"  says 
John.  "  Oh  ! "  says  the  steward,  "  you  don't  take  to 
fish  worth  a  cent,  either,  sir."  When  I  reach  the 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  75 

table  I  always  find  a  plate  of  soup,  and  as  soon  as  it 
is  finished  Harry,  our  steward,  says,  "  Next  on  bill,  I 
suppose,  sir?"  I  invariably  say  yes,  not  that  I  eat 
much,  as  all  my  friends  know,  but  I  go  through  the 
bill  just  to  kill  time.  The  eggs  on  our  boat  are  in  a 
condition  that  would  make  Jim  Kyle's  heart  leap  for 
joy.  We  dare  not  have  them  cooked  in  any  other 
way  than  that  of  scrambled.  In  fact,  they  won't 
stand  it.  En  passant,  you  see  ducks  everywhere  on 
Hawaiia.  They  are  hatched  by  simply  placing  the 
eggs  in  rice  straw,  and  leaving  the  straw  out  in  the 
sun  (and  moon  too)  day  and  night  for  a  week,  when 
out  run  the  little  ducks.  The  mother  duck  never 
thinks  of  setting  on  them. 

Our  purser  gave  me  an  account  of  the  wreck  of 
the  Henry  James  and  the  rescue  of  the  crew  from 
Palmira  Island  on  the  last  trip  of  the  Mariposa  from 
Sydney.  There  were  thirty-five  persons,  including 
two  women  and  several  children  ;  also  one  dog.  They 
had  been  on  the  Island  six  weeks,  subsisting  on  crabs, 
small  eels  caught  with  forked  sticks  among  the  coral 
rocks,  cocoanuts  and  young  sea  birds.  Their  only 
cooking  utensil  was  a  tin  meat-can  which  held  about 
one-half  gallon ;  in  this,  cooking  was  carried  on  all 
day  long.  The  vessel  was  wrecked  on  a  coral  reef 
about  thirty-five  miles  from  Palmira  Island,  and  it 
was  so  sudden  and  complete  that  the  crew  and  pas- 
sengers had  only  time  to  get  out  two  boats  and  make 
for  the  Island,  the  nearest  point  from  which  to  get 
help  being  the  Samoan  Islands,  1,400  miles  away. 


76  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

Five  of  the  castaways  agreed  to  take  one  of  the  boats 
and  try  to  make  these  Islands  and  bring  help  for  the 
others.  They  took  seven  pounds  of  the  bread  (one 
half  of  the  entire  quantity  saved  from  the  ship),  some 
eels,  crabs,  and  250  cocoanuts.  When  they  reached 
a  point  near  the  Samoan  Islands,  they  were  all  ex- 
hausted, but  providentially  the  boat  was  seen  drifting 
about  by  a  passing  ship  near  the  harbor  and  picked 
up.  The  men  were  all  insensible  but  one,  and  he 
was  too  weak  to  give  any  account  of  himself  and  his 
companions  until  the  following  day.  When  this  tale 
was  heard,  a  vessel  started  to  the  relief  of  the  poor 
wretches,  but  owing  to  heavy  weather  returned. 
About  this  time  the  Mariposa  arrived  on  her  way  to 
San  Francisco,  and  as  soon  as  her  commander,  Capt. 
Hay  ward,  heard  of  the  condition  of  the  unfortunates, 
he  promptly  started  to  their  assistance,  although  it 
took  him  out  of  his  course.  (I  do  not  admire  our 
captain  at  all,  but  am  glad  to  be  able  to  write  the 
above  to  his  credit.  With  one  or  two  exceptions, 
I  think  he  has  no  admirers  on  the  ship,  but  he  is 
doubtless  a  safe  officer,  and  this  is  everything  in  the 
"  fix"  we  are  in,  and  4,000  miles  from  land.)  When 
the  Island  was  reached,  the  people  were  found  to  be 
in  a  horrible  condition,  almost  naked  ;  their  skin  ac- 
tually parched  like  leather,  hair  matted  and  offensive 
odors  emanating  from  the  body,  &c.  They  were 
promptly  taken  aboard ;  clothing  was  given  them  by 
the  steamer's  passengers,  which  they  donned  after 
hot  baths  and  the  use  of  scissors  and  razor  by  the 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  77 

barber.  When  they  again  made  their  appearance  on 
deck  they  did  not  know  each  other.  One  hundred 
pounds  was  raised  by  the  passengers  and  divided 
among  them,  and  when  they  reached  Honolulu  they 
were  placed  under  the  care  of  the  English  consul.  I 
hope  we  may  have  no  such  experience  on  this  trip. 
This  letter  will  be  mailed  at  Tutuila. 


78  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER  XV. 

OFF  FOR  AUCKLAND — THE  SAMOANS — THEIR  LACK  OF  SUS- 
CEPTIBILITY TO  IMPROVEMENT — OLD  WHALING  GROUND 
— LEAVING  THE  TORRID  ZONE — VARYING  THE  MONOT- 
ONY OF  A  LONG  VOYAGE 

S.  S.  MARIPOSA, 
AT  SEA,  July  20,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

The  Sunday  after  we  left  Honolulu — Monday  with 
the  Samoans,  or  Kanakas,  as  they  are  called  (indeed, 
the  most  of  the  natives  of  these  South  Sea  Islands 
are  said  to  be  of  this  latter  race  ;  they  have  the  red 
tinge,  first  noticed  at  Honolulu  ;  the  same  large,  dark 
eyes  and  long,  waving  hair  and  handsome  physique). 
Our  experience  among  them  to-day,  will  long  be  re- 
membered as  a  red-letter  period  in  our  wanderings. 

About  eleven  o'clock  a  dim,  misty  outline  of  peaks 
and  gently  undulating  hill-tops  could  be  seen  about 
sixty  miles  ahead.  This,  we  were  informed,  was 
Tutuila,  one  of  the  Samoan  or  Navigator  group.  As 
we  rapidly  approached  I  could  see  through  my  glass 
a  small  sailing  vessel — the  mail  boat  from  Apia — 
beating  up  and  down,  waiting  for  our  steamer,  and, 
on  approaching  still  nearer,  I  could  distinguish  six 
large,  long,  native  canoes  loaded  down  with  the  red 
skinned  aborigines,  so  that  the  water  reached  almost 
to  the  top  of  the  gunwales.  They  had  on  a  beautiful 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  79 

suit  of  tattooing,  their  own  long  hair,  and  nothing 
else.  Each  boat  held  about  twenty-five  men,  women 
and  youths.  When  we  had  arrived  within  a  mile  of 
the  Island  our  engine  stopped,  and  the  boats  came  on 
with  a  rush ;  each  native  had  a  paddle  about  four 
feet  long,  and  every  one  handled  it  to  suit  him  or 
herself,  without  any  regard  to  concert  of  action  with 
their  neighbor.  We  began  to  cheer,  and  the  six  boats 
commenced  a  race,  cheering  each  other  to  top  speed 
by  wild  cries.  It  was  a  wild,  weird-looking  sight, 
their  red,  oiled  bodies  glistening  under  the  bright 
rays  of  a  vertical  tropical  sun  like  burnished  copper. 
In  a  few  moments  they  had  thrown  their  cocoanut- 
fibre  ropes  to  willing  hands  and  were  swarming  up 
the  side  of  the  steamer,  but  just  as  their  boats  touched 
the  side  of  our  "vessel,  those  who  designed  coming  on 
deck  donned  their  breech-cloths.  Some  of  them  were 
put  on  very  hurriedly  ;  the  result  may  safely  be  left 
to  the  imagination  of  the  reader.  In  a  few  moments 
we  were  engaged  in  traffic.  War-clubs,  spears,  beads, 
shells,  cocoanuts,  fruits,  &c.,  &c.,  were  all  and  sever- 
ally offered  for  $10 — "  ten  dollar  " — and  bought  for  a 
shilling.  The  natives  know  no  other  coin  or  price,  so 
say  $10  whenever  asked  the  price  of  anything,  yet 
are  willing  to  take  a  shilling,  quarter  of  a  dollar  or 
any  piece  of  money  of  that  size  having  the  appear- 
ance of  silver ;  any  smaller  sized  coin  they  will 
promptly  refuse. 

They  are  a  much  finer  looking  people  than  the 
Sandwich  Islanders.      Their  features  are  clear  cut, 


80  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

no  trace  of  resemblance  to  the  negro  being  apparent, 
and  are  the  merriest  looking  lot  of  beggars  I  ever 
saw.  I  have  picked  up  some  queer  curiosities  lately, 
and  among  them  an  entire  change  of  ideas  about  what 
is  good  for  the  "  heathen."  We  had  an  addition  to 
our  passenger  list  at  this  point  consisting  of  a  lieuten- 
ant from  a  German  man-of-war  stationed  here ;  he 
will  go  with  us  to  Sydney  to  spend  some  time  recu- 
perating his  health.  I  learned  from  him  some  very 
interesting  facts  relative  to  the  natives,  their  habits, 
etc.  They  are  very  hospitable  and  kind  to  all 
strangers,  fairly  worshiping  the  whites,  supplying 
them  with  everything  the  Island  affords,  such  as 
yams,  cocoanuts,  bread-fruit  and  all  of  the  tropical 
fruits  and  nuts,  together  with  fish  and  wild  hogs,  the 
latter  the  progeny  of  those  left  by  Captain  Cook.  The 
natives  are  not  fond  of  meat ;  cannibalism  is  not  prac- 
ticed among  any  of  the  islands  in  this  group. 

On  the  16th  the  air  became  cool  and  bracing,  sug- 
gesting that  by  the  end  of  the  week  overcoats  would 
not  only  be  comfortable  but  absolutely  necessary. 
Flying  fish  are  numerous  ;  they  spring  from  the  water 
at  the  side  of  our  ship  and  go  skimming  over  the 
waves  in  singles,  pairs  and  in  large  schools,  to  great 
distances.  On  the  18th  the  water  became  very  rough, 
rendering  most  of  us  again  actively  ill,  myself  among 
the  unfortunate  number.  A  few  days  ago  we  were 
sweltering  under  a  tropical  sun,  listless,  lifeless,  drip- 
ping with  perspiration  ;  at  night  feeling  like  we  were 
wrapped  in  a  blanket  freshly  dipped  in  boiling 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  81 

water.  To-day  (the  20th)  we  are  all  looking  blue 
and  pinched,  with  a  freezing  south  breeze  blowing 
and  everybody  wrapped  up  in  overcoats  and  furs.  A 
north  wind  at  home  means  cold ;  a  north  wind  here 
means  heat.  Yesterday  a  huge  whale  came  to  the 
surface  to  breathe,  not  more  than  three  hundred  yards 
from  our  vessel,  showing  a  great  part  of  its  enormous 
bulk.  This  part  of  the  ocean  was  once  the  favorite 
ground  for  very  large  fish  in  years  gone  by,  when 
whale  fishing  was  profitable.  We  nightly  vary  the 
monotony  of  this  long  voyage  with  concerts,  readings, 
recitations  and  sleight-of-hand  performances.  We 
have  on  board,  bound  for  the  Melbourne  Exhibition, 
a  noted  magician,  who  adds  greatly  to  our  enjoyment. 
We  sighted  New  Zealand  about  8  o'clock  this  morn- 
ing, and,  as  I  close  this  letter  and  at  1  P.  M.,  we  are 
well  into  the  Island,  and  will  probably  anchor  at  3 
P.  M.  in  Auckland. 


82  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER  XVI. 

NEW  ZEALAND  —  INTERESTING  FACTS  RELATING  TO  THE 
MAORIS — A  PEST  OF  RABBITS — THE  ALBATROSS — FROM 
AUCKLAND  TO  SYDNEY — A  DARK  AND  BREEZY  TIME. 

AUCKLAND,  N.  Z  ,  July  25,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

A  band  just  outside  my  window  has  been  playing 
"  Home,  Sweet  Home  "  to  welcome  the  return  of  a 
local  political  favorite  from  an  electioneering  tour.  A 
lonely,  unheeded  stranger  was  also  in  hearing  under 
the  deep  blue  canopy  studded  with  stars,  whom  those 
familiar  strains  moved  to  quickening  tears.  But  we 
cannot  stop  our  onward  march  through  life  to  indulge 
in  sentiment.  "  This  world  is  a  bog,"  said  Queen 
Elizabeth,  "  over  which  we  must  trip  lightly.  If  we 
pause  we  sink." 

It  is  not  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  since  the 
first  landing  of  Captain  Cook  in  New  Zealand,  and 
yet  in  that  comparatively  brief  period  the  numerous 
native  population  then  swarming  upon  its  shores  have 
dwindled  to  a  mere  handful.  It  requires  no  prophet 
to  foretell  that  the  race  will  soon  be  extinct.  In 
Australia  many  of  the  native  tribes  have  entirely  dis- 
appeared— not  a  single  representative  being  left.  The 
Maoris  are  far  superior  to  the  Australians  in  appear- 
ance and  intellect ;  indeed,  are  very  like  our  finest 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  83 

type  of  Indians,  yet,  like  the  Indian,  they  are  rapidly 
giving  place  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  The  Maoris 
are  often  met  in  the  streets  of  the  cities,  dressed  in 
European  clothes,  and  it  is  very  amusing  to  see  them 
salute  each  other,  which  they  do  by  rubbing  their 
noses  together.  The  men  tatoo  themselves  all  over 
the  face,  the  women  only  about  the  chin  and  mouth. 
I  did  not  find  these  people  a  cleanly  race ;  those  that 
occupy  the  Hot  Lake  district  are  said  to  spend  two- 
thirds  of  their  time  in  the  water,  and  are  doubtless 
less  dirty.  The  full-bloods  are  a  fairly  good  looking 
race,  but  the  half-breeds  are  remarkably  handsome. 
Like  our  Indians,  they  make  the  women  do  all  the 
drudgery  ;  the  men  hunt  and  fish.  It  seems  strange 
that  while  these  people  were  cannibals  they  throve 
and  increased,  but  since  civilization  has  been  intro- 
duced there  has  come  annual  decimation.  There  is 
one  feature  seen  in  every  Maori's  face  which  is  mar- 
velously  beautiful,  viz.:  the  eyes;  they  are  large, 
black  as  night  and  brilliant,  full  of  feeling  and  ten- 
derness. The  Maoris  as  a  race  have  some  striking 
peculiarities.  For  example,  they  never  eat  salt ;  they 
have  no  fixed  industry,  and  no  idea  of  time  of  its 
divisions  into  hours  and  months.  They  are  like  our 
Indians,  constitutionally  lazy ;  they  are  intensely 
selfish,  and  care  nothing  for  their  dead.  They  have 
a  quick  sense  of  insult,  but  cannot,  as  a  rule,  be  called 
pugnacious;  they  excite  themselves  to  the  fighting 
point  by  indulging  in  a  hideous  war-dance  and  sing- 
ing songs  full  of  braggadocio,  and  when  thus  wrought 


84  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

up  they  are  perfectly  reckless  as  to  personal  safety. 
He  is  not,  however,  a  treacherous  enemy  ;  he  gives 
honorable  notice  of  his  hostile  intent,  warring  only 
in  an  open  manner,  thus  exhibiting  a  degree  of 
chivalry  unknown  among  our  Indians.  Money  with 
them  is  considered  only  as  representing  so  much  to- 
bacco and  whiskey,  or  rum.  Alcohol  is  their  crite- 
rion of  value — bread  and  meat  are  quite  secondary. 
"  White  man  drink  whiskey,  why  not  I,"  says  the 
Maori ;  they  will  beg  for  drink,  but  not  for  bread. 
Those  that  know  them  best  say  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  imbue  them  with  a  sense  of  the  importance  of 
chastity ;  the  idea  is  altogether  ignored.  But  after 
a  woman  is  married  she  becomes  sacred,  and  to  treat 
her  with  unchaste  violence  then,  is  to  incur  the  penalty 
of  death.  It  would  be  impossible  to  imagine  a  more 
immoral  people  than  the  Maoris,  judging  by  our 
standards. 

Ancient  traditions  are  fast  dying  away  among  these 
people — dying  with  the  elders  of  their  tribes,  in  whose 
memories  they  are  locked  up.  The  missionaries  half 
invented,  half  transcribed  an  oral  Maori  language, 
whfch  was  used  to  translate  the  Bible.  But  there 
cannot  be  said  to  exist  any  native  literature.  The 
aborigines  gave  themselves  the  name  Maori  —  pro- 
nounced Mau-re.  We  are  told  by  well-informed 
writers  upon  this  subject,  that  they  were  of  all  the 
South-Sea  tribes  the  most  intelligent.  They  are 
physically  the  most  vigorous  of  any  savages  inhabit- 
ing islands  south  of  the  equator.  Wherever  they  are 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.          85 

now  found  in  the  neighborhood  of  cities,  they  usually 
adopt  European  clothing,  yet  we  are  told  amusing 
anecdotes  of  their  going  back  into  the  "  bush  "  from 
time  to  time,  solely  to  indulge  in  the  old  savage  con- 
dition of  nudity,  and  to  enjoy  a  sense  of  entire  freedom 
from  the  conventionalities  of  the  whites.  There  is 
not  much  inter- marriage  between  the  whites  and 
natives  now,  but  when  there  were  few  white  women 
it  was  not  so  uncommon.  The  race  evinces  to-day 
many  of  the  wild  traits  of  their  ancestors.  You  can- 
not quite  tame  an  Apache,  a  Gypsy,  or  a  New  Zealand 
Maori.  Polygamy  and  slavery  still  exists  among 
them.  They  believe  in  a  future  state  of  existence, 
and  build  rude  temples  to  a  great  spirit,  but  as  late 
as  1840  their  greatest  delight  was  the  war-dance,  the 
cannibal  feast  and  the  boasting  war-song.  The  Maori 
affords  us  the  anomaly  of  a  braggart  who  is  not  by 
any  means  a  coward.  Now  and  then  is  seen  among 
them  a  face  of  unmistakable  Jewish  cast,  which  sets 
the  imagination  to  work  to  find  some  possible  con- 
nection, far  back  among  bygone  ages,  between  this 
race  and  the  Hebrew. 

The  Maoris,  when  first  discovered,  had  many  games 
and  sports  which  were  identical  with  our  own,  such 
as  kite-flying,  skipping-rope,  hide-and-seek,  dancing, 
walking  upon  stilts,  &c.  Cook  estimated,  when  he 
first  visited  them,  they  had  passed  the  period  of  their 
best  days.  He  thought  that  in  the  century  previous 
to  his  coming,  they  had  eaten  about  one-fourth  their 
number.  The  race  now  numbers  about  35,000,  though 


86  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

it  is  certain  it  aggregated  over  100,000  a  century  ago. 
The  half-caste  seldom  lives  to  be  over  forty  years — 
of  the  pure  blood  you  will  see  but  few  old  persons. 
They  are  all,  both  men,  women  and  children,  most 
inveterate  smokers.  What  a  blessing  it  would  be  to 
old  Virginia  if  there  were  35,000,000  of  them  instead 
of  35,000.  You  can  give  a  Maori  nothing  more  ac- 
ceptable than  a  pipe  and  a  plug  of  tobacco.  When 
a  Maori  meets  another  after  a  long  separation,  the 
first  thing  is  a  mutual  rubbing  of  noses,  after  which 
each  of  the  parties  begins  to  weep  and  moan,  but 
when  they  say  good-bye,  be  it  in  view  of  never  so 
long  a  separation,  they  indulge  in  the  most  boisterous 
laughter.  As  the  dead  lie  prepared  for  burial,  the 
nearest  of  kin  first,  then  the  closest  friends,  rub 
noses  with  the  corpse. 

The  Maoris  live  nearly  like  the  lower  class  of  ani 
mals,  preferring  that  sort  of  life  even  after  half  a 
century  of  intercourse  with  the  whites.  They  may, 
from  motives  of  policy,  listen  to  and  pretend  to  accept 
Christianity,  as  many  of  the  Chinese  do ;  but  both 
races,  it  is  well  understood,  return  to  their  original 
faith  at  the  first  opportunity.  The  modern  Maori 
accepts  the  creed  of  the  missionary  because  it  is  the 
easiest  thing  for  him  to  do,  but  he  still  believes  in 
witchcraft,  the  evil  eye,  etc.  The  Roman  Catholic 
faith,  which  addresses  itself  so  palpably  to  the  eye 
through  form  and  ceremony,  is  the  most  popular  among 
them,  and  has  by  far  the  largest  number  of  professed 
adherents  of  any  denomination.  The  decrease  in  the 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  87 

portion  of  the  Island  set  aside  for  them  is  as  rapid  as 
it  is  where  they  are  brought  into  more  close  connec- 
tion with  the  whites.  As  a  people,  they  have  mani- 
festly fulfilled  the  purpose  for  which  God  placed 
them  in  these  Islands  of  the  South  Sea,  and,  like  the 
"  Moa,"  they  must  pass  off  the  scene  and  give  place 
to  another  race  of  beings.  So  it  is  with  the  Indian, 
and  so  it  was  with  the  now  totally-extinct  natives  ol 
Tasmania.  Nothing  can  prevent  the  inevitable.  It 
is  Kismet. 

I  have  endeavored  to  be  as  clear  and  succinct  as 
possible  in  this  somewhat  extended  description  of  an 
interesting  race,  and  acknowledge  my  indebtedness 
to  M.  M.  Ballou's  book,  "  Under  the  Southern  Cross," 
for  aid  in  writing  it.  During  my  short  stay  among 
these  people  I  have  seen  and  heard  many  things  that 
will  constitute  delightful  reminiscences  in  future 
days.  These  are  some  of  their  unique  names  :  "  Wi- 
rernu  Turei,"  "  Te  Kepa,"  "  Terurahuihui,"  "  Ropata 
Wohawaha." 

In  New  Zealand  rabbits  are  so  abundant  that  they 
are  killed,  skinned,  and  the  carcasses  left  on  the 
ground  to  be  devoured  by  carrion  birds.  The  head 
is  always  saved  and  turned  into  the  government  for 
the  bounty  which  is  paid  upon  each  one.  The  skins 
are  packed  and  shipped  to  Europe,  to  be  made  into 
gloves,  etc.  The  total  claims  made  to  the  rabbit 
branch  of  the  Sydney  Land  Department  for  rabbits 
destroyed  amounts  to  date  to  £191,351,  say  $1,000,- 
000.  Mr.  Ballou,  in  his  graphic  description  of  this 


88  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

Island,  says :  "  I  have  seen,  by  moonlight,  a  whole 
sloping  hill-side  which  seemed  to  be  moving,  so  com- 
pletely was  it  covered  by  these  little  furry  quadru- 
peds." They  are  shot,  poisoned,  trapped  and  killed 
with  clubs,  but  still  so  rapidly  do  they  breed  there  is 
no  visible  diminution  of  their  number. 

The  rivers  of  New  Zealand  are  generally  destitute 
of  fish,  and  the  forests  and  plains  of  game.  It  is  no 
country  for  a  sportsman.  Vegetation  runs  riot,  how- 
ever, the  soil  being  very  fertile,  and  drouth  is  un- 
known. In  this  respect  it  is  entirely  unlike  Australia. 
In  the  northern  portion  it  is  very  much  like  Spain 
in  climate,  the  middle  not  unlike  France,  while  the 
southern  portion  is  very  similar  to  that  of  England. 
At  the  Christ  Church  Museum  can  be  seen  the  skele- 
ton of  that  most  remarkable  pre-historic  bird,  the 
"  Moa."  This  bird  was  indigenous  in  New  Zealand, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  existed  up  to  a  period  of 
2,000  years  ago,  probably  disappearing  before  any 
human  beings  came  to  the  Island,  as  the  Maori  people 
can  only  be  traced  back  for  some  700  years,  and  are 
believed  to  have  come  from  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
Tradition  fails  to  give  any  account  of  the  gigantic 
bird  "Moa"  while  living,  but  their  bones  are  often 
found  in  caves,  from  which  the  specimens  extant  have 
been  reconstructed.  The  head  of  one  of  these  skele- 
tons stands  sixteen  feet  from  the  ground,  the  various 
portions  of  the  body  harmonizing  with  the  height. 
When  standing  erect  it  was  several  feet  higher 
than  the  giraffe,  and  was  to  the  rest  of  the  bird- 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  89 

tribe  what  our  townsman  Ike  U is  to  a  toddling 

infant. 

From  Auckland,  where  this  letter  was  begun,  to 
Sydney,  where  it  will  be  completed,  the  sea  is  always 
rough,  and  it  certainly  did  not  depart  from  the  pre- 
vailing rule  to  accommodate  us.  Almost  as  soon  as 
we  steamed  out  of  Auckland  the  storm  was  upon  us. 
As  night  came  on  it  increased  in  intensity.  On  we 
drove  through  darkness  so  dense  that  nothing  could 
be  seen  fifty  feet  from  the  ship.  Our  lady  passengers 
clung  to  the  arms  of  their  seats  in  the  saloon,  and 
with  blanched  faces  and  bated  breath,  whispered  their 
fears  to  their  male  protectors.  Those  who  had  here- 
tofore escaped  sea-sickness  succumbed  to  this  dismal 
disorder,  and  were  "actively  ill."  "He  that  will 
learn  to  pray,  let  him  go  to  sea,"  says  George  Herbert. 
"  God  maketh  the  sea  to  boil  like  a  pot,"  can  be 
literally  understood  by  any  one  that  has  ever  crossed 
it  between  the  two  places  indicated. 

Many  an  otherwise  weary  hour  was  pleasantly 
passed  watching  the  graceful  flight  of  the  albatross, 
that  fateful  bird  of  nautical  romance.  The  ease  and 
apparent  lack  of  effort  with  which  it  sustains  itself 
in  the  air  is  simply  wonderful.  What  secret  power 
is  it  that  can  propel  him  for  hundreds  of  yards  against 
the  wind,  with  no  perceptible  motion  of  the  wings  ? 
The  albatross  is  armed  with  the  most  powerful  beak 
attached  to  any  of  the  feathered  tribe,  being  from 
seven  to  nine  inches  long,  the  end  of  which  is  a  keen, 
pointed  hook  as  hard  as  steel.  The  average  size  of 


90  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

the  bird  is :  length  of  body,  three  feet ;  spread  of 
wings  from  tip  to  tip,  ten  feet.  In  many  instances 
the  wings  will  measure  twelve  feet  from  tip  to  tip. 
The  feet  are  large,  say  eight  inches  across,  webbed 
and  armed  with  three  sharp  claws  over  an  inch  in 
length.  The  prevailing  color  is  that  of  a  dirty  white 
or  dove  on  the  upper  part  of  the  body  and  wings ; 
the  breast  and  under  part  of  the  wings  are  always 
snowy  white.  The  flight  of  these  birds  is  so  rapid 
that  it  is  said  they  could  sup  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  and  breakfast  at  New  York. 

We  have  just  arrived  (July  26th)  at  Sydney,  after 
a  troubled  voyage,  and  leave  this  P.  M.  for  Melbourne. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  91 


LETTER   XVII. 

THE  MELBOURNE  EXPOSITION — THE  OPENING  CEREMONIES — 
CHIEF  COMMISSIONER  AND  MRS.  M'COPPIN — MEETING 
NOTABLE  PEOPLE. 

MELBOURNE,  Aug.  G,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

The  great  Melbourne  Exposition  opened  on  the 
1st  in  due  form.  The  high  and  mighty  dignitaries  of 
the  world  occupied  the  dais  in  the  centre  of  the  main 
building.  At  11:30  A.  M.,  Sir  Henry  Loch  and  Lady 
Loch  entered  at  the  main  entrance  of  the  Avenue  of 
the  Nations ;  the  various  representatives  of  all  the 
nations  on  earth  marched  down  the  long  gallery  to 
receive  and  escort  them  to  a  raised  platform.  As 
they  passed  the  various  courts,  bands  of  music  played 
national  airs,  the  immense  organ  in  the  west  nave 
poured  out  its  powerful  tones,  the  tens  of  thousands 
of  spectators  rose  to  their  feet,  and  the  opening  cere- 
monies had  commenced. 

Among  the  supporting  escort,  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous,  dignified  and  commanding  figures  was 
our  chief  commissioner,  Hon.  Frank  McCoppin.  No 
title  was  necessary  to  inform  the  spectators  that  here 
walked  a  true  gentleman  and  a  man  among  men.  Six 
feet,  four  inches  in  height;  straight  as  an  arrow; 
thoroughly  proportioned  ;  complexion  ruddy  ;  a  short, 
thick,  gray  moustache ;  hair  perfectly  white,  and  an 


92  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

eye  that  took  in  everything  and  everybody  at  a 
glance.  I  felt  a  sincere  pride  in  my  countryman,  nor 
can  I  refrain  from  saying  a  word  or  two  in  praise  of 
his  charming  wife.  Mrs.  McCoppin  is  just  such  a 
woman  as  Beaconsfield  would  have  taken  for  one  of 
his  characters — a  woman  with  a  kind,  sympathetic 
heart,  a  mind  of  extraordinary  capacity  stored  with 
an  amount  of  information  simply  wonderful,  and  pos- 
sessed with  the  faculty  of  imparting  it  in  the  simplest 
and  most  pleasant  way  imaginable.  Her  reading 
extends  over  the  greatest  variety  of  subjects.  Politics 
are  quite  as  familiar  to  her  as  are  the  best  poets, 
while  every  fiction  of  any  note  from  Fielding  and 
Smollett  to  Amelia  Rives  are  entirely  familiar  to  her. 
Mrs.  McCoppin  is  stout,  with  a  handsome,  striking 
face,  and  is  about  forty-five  years  of  age.  Among 
the  wealth,  beauty  and  nobility  occupying  the  main 
stand,  there  were  no  two  figures  more  striking  than 
that  of  our  chief  and  his  accomplished  wife. 

The  position  of  the  four  assistant  commissioners 
was  quite  near  the  principal  stand,  and  a  little  to  the 
left  of  the  choir  of  one  thousand  voices.  Miss  Sher- 
wood sang  a  solo,  and  although  the  building  in  which 
the  ceremonies  were  held  is  over  five  acres  in  floor 
extent,  the  main  building  alone  being  used,  her  power- 
ful voice  could  be  heard  in  every  nook  and  corner.  I 
am  quartered  just  across  the  street  from  the  Exhibi- 
tion building;  have  a  small  room,  and  pay  four 
guineas  or  $20  per  week  for  it  and  board.  I  have 
made  numerous  efforts  to  settle  down  to  business  and 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  93 

letter  writing,  but  owing  to  calls  from  American 
exhibitors,  find  it  an  exceedingly  difficult  thing  to  do. 
I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Lady  Musgrove, 
daughter  of  David  Dudley  Field,  and  niece  of  Asso- 
ciate Justice  Field  of  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court,  and 
found  her  a  genuine  American  in  both  accent  and 
bearing.  You  know  it  is  said  an  Englishman  loves 
a  lord  above  all  things.  The  Australian  would  give 
his  life  almost  for  a  nod  from  one.  Titles  are  simply 
adored  out  here.  I  have  been  very  kindly  treated 
by  every  one  I  have  met,  and  should,  and  do,  feel 
very  grateful,  but  I  would  prefer  my  modest  cottage 
in  old  Lynchburg  to  the  finest  palace  in  this  country. 


94  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER  XVIII. 

AUSTRALIAN  FORESTS — THEIR  UTTER  DESOLATION — HUNT- 
ING BEARS  AND  KANGAROOS — THE  RESULT — LAUGHING 
JACKASSES — THE  ART  GALLERIES  AT  THE  EXHIBITION 
— THE  DRAMA. 

UNITED  STATES  COUKT, 
EXHIBITION  BUILDING, 

October  3,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

Messrs.  Faulkner  and  Craighill,  of  Lynchburg, 
gave  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  a  friend  of  theirs 
in  Melbourne.  I  was  delighted  to  find  that  he  is  as 
much  devoted  to  sport  as  myself,  and  we  at  once 
arranged  for  a  hunt  for  the  foPowing  Tuesday.  So 
on  that  day,  accompanied  by  this  friend,  we  took  the 
train  for  Goldburn,  New  South  Wales,  which  was 
reached  Wednesday  at  8  A.  M.  We  hired  a  two- 
horse  trap,  and  within  one  hour  after  our  arrival 
were  on  our  way  to  "  Bungonia,"  a  station  in  the 
heart  of  the  colony.  We  were  on  the  road  almost  all 
day.  After  leaving  Goldburn,  we  entered  the  forest, 
which  extended  for  hundreds  of  miles  in  every  direc- 
tion. 

A  word  here  anent  Australian  forests.  Every 
square  acre  is  just  like  every  other  square  acre 
throughout  the  whole  country.  There  is  no  more 
desolate  sight  than  is  presented  by  these  forests.  The 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  95 

trees  are  gnarled  and  twisted,  and  all  of  the  trunks 
and  limbs  are  white,  with  that  peculiar  ashy  appear- 
ance seen  only  in  a  pile  of  bleached  bones  on  some 
wind-swept  desert.  The  ground  underneath  the  trees 
is  almost  entirely  bare,  as  there  is  but  little  to  fertilize 
it,  the  trees  never  shedding  their  leaves,  but  only 
their  dry,  sapless,  lifeless  bark,  which  peels  off  in 
long  strips,  and  lies  along  the  ground  in  tangled 
masses.  No  sound  is  heard  among  the  trees,  except 
occasionally  the  peculiar  guttural  note  of  the  magpie 
or  the  shrill  pipe  of  the  "  soldier  bird."  I  have  wan- 
dered for  hours  through  these  "  skeleton  woods  "  with- 
out hearing  even  a  leaf  stir,  and  only  occasionally 
catching  a  glimpse  of  a  kangaroo  or  wallaby  scudding 
away  in  the  distance  like  a  brown  shadow.  I  can 
now  readily  understand  why  the  bushmen,  when  lost 
in  these  miles  of  desolate,  white  timber  trees,  with 
their  funereal  plumes  of  "  black-green  foliage,"  go 
mad  in  a  few  days,  and  when  found,  which  seldom 
happens,  are  raving  maniacs.  To  a  stranger,  there 
is  no  way  of  locating  one's  route  of  return  by  any 
peculiarity  of  trees  or  ground,  as  it  is  all  so  exactly 
alike  that  only  those  raised  amid  such  surroundings 
can  navigate  through  these  pathless  wastes  with  any- 
thing like  safety. 

Now  for  the  hunt :  I  saw  my  first  ferocious  Austra- 
lian bear  a  few  miles  from  our  starting  point.  He 
was  resting  comfortably  in  the  fork  of  a  blue  gum, 
and  looked  at  me  as  I  approached  the  trees  with  an 
air  that  said,  "  Well,  what  do  you  want  here  ?  "  I 


96  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

planted  a  44- Winchester  ball  in  his  back,  which  only 
made  him  move  up  the  trunk  of  the  tree  a  few  feet 
and  commence  to  cry.  The  tears  streamed  down  his 
face,  and  the  cry  was  so  like  that  of  a  child  in  deep 
distress  that  my  heart  reproved  me,  and  I  promptly 
put  a  ball  through  its  head.  I  had  killed  my  first  bear. 
During  the  day  we  killed  twenty-seven  bears.  We 
spent  three  days  and  a-half  in  our  hunt,  killing  ninety- 
two  bears,  seventy  one  kangaroo  arid  wallaby,  six  hares, 
and  parrots  innumerable.  The  most  amusing  incident 
of  the  trip  I  note  here.  I  was  placed  on  a  stand  to 
shoot  kangaroo,  and  the  drivers,  a  squad  of  six  boys, 
on  horseback,  were  sent  to  the  woods  a  half  mile  to 
drive  the  poor  brutes  toward  me  by  "  cooing  "  (Aus- 
tralian for  yelling)  and  cracking  whips,  though 
my  stand  I  was  told  to  keep  perfectly  quiet.  Soon 
after  my  guide  left  me  I  heard  some  one  Jaugh — the 
sound  seemed  to  come  from  the  direction  of  a  "  water 
hole  "  I  had  passed  about  one  hundred  yards  in  rear 
of  my  stand  ;  "  ha,  ha,  ha,"  then  "  he,  he,  he,"  quickly 
followed  by  "  ho,  ho,  ho,"  and  again  "  hey,  hey,  hey," 
then  altogether  the  entire  party  broke  out  in  the  most 
uproarious,  jolly  laugh  I  ever  heard,  and  although 
I  was  furiously  angry  I  could  riot,  for  my  life,  keep 
from  joining  in  it.  Knowing  that  this  infernal  racket 
would  prevent  any  sensible  animal  from  coming  with- 
in a  mile  of  me,  I  went  down  to  the  water  hole  to 
request  the  party  to  leave,  as  they  were  interfering 
with  my  sport.  When  I  reached  the  place  no  one 
could  be  seen.  I  looked  in  every  direction,  and  the 


80UVENIR8  OF  TRAVEL.  ,         97 

only  thing  I  saw  was  five  large  birds  that  looked 
like  "  king-fishers  "  on  a  big  scale.  Just  as  I  was 
about  to  return  to  my  stand  completely  mystified,  I 
heard  "  ha,  ha,  ha,"  and  to  my  surprise  it  came  from 
one  of  the  birds ;  the  next  one  took  it  up,  "  he,  he, 
he/'  and  so  on,  and  then  altogether  in  a  chorus — the 
most  rollicking,  jolly  peals  of  laughter  I  ever  heard. 
I  laid  down  on  the  dead  grass  and  rolled  over  in  con- 
vulsions, and  was  only  brought  to  my  senses  by  an 
"  old  man  "  kangaroo  jumping  almost  over  me.  I 
picked  up  my  gun  and  gave  him  a  parting  shot,  and 
almost  immediately  heard  my  drivers  shouting  their 
coo,  coo,  coo,  in  the  woods  near  me.  I  was  soon 
joined  by  my  guide,  who  informed  me  that  the  birds 
that  had  amused  and  annoyed  me  so  much  were 
"laughing  jackasses."  I  met  these  unique  fowls 
several  times  afterwards,  and  had  many  hearty  laughs 
with  them. 

I  am  again  hard  at  work  on  my  tobacco  report — 
subject :  tobacco — its  growth,  progress,  etc.,  having 
been  assigned  to  me  by  the  commissioner.  Almost 
every  night  I  spend  an  hour  or  two  in  the  picture 
gallery  in  the  Exhibition  Building.  I  am  greatly 
pleased  with  the  German  Art  Gallery,  and  will  men- 
tion a  few  pictures  that  have  particularly  taken  my 
fancy. 

"  The  Only  Friend,"  a  fine  picture  by  Hillah,  rep- 
resents a  dog  lying  outside  the  barred  window  of  a 
prison,  while  the  inmate  has  pushed  his  hand  through 
the  iron  railings  to  allow  it  to  rest  caressingly  on  the 


98  SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

animal's  head.  "  A  Summer  Morning  on  the  Beach," 
by  Leistikow,  a  delicately-toned  sea  picture,  with 
early  summer  light  lighting  up  the  boats  and  planks 
on  the  sea-shore.  "  The  Norwegian  Harbor,"  by 
Garebe,  and  the  "  Norwegian  Fiord  "  by  the  same 
artist.  In  both,  the  main  feature  is  the  lustrous  and 
pellucid  blue  of  the  water,  which  in  the  middle  dis- 
tance has  caught  the  tints  from  the  mountains  as  they 
rise  abruptly  from  the  sides  of  the  narrow  bay.  "  The 
Sattenfiord,"  a  very  glowing  composition,  with  sunlit 
rocks  and  shipping,  almost  dazzling  in  their  warmth 
of  color,  is  a  fine  picture.  I  do  not  now  recall  the 
artist's  name.  "  A  Winter  Evening,"  by  Muller- 
Kurzwellz,  in  which  the  treatment  of  sunshine  on 
snow  is  very  realistic,  the  last  gleam  falling  on  the 
branches  of  the  trees  like  a  thread  of  gold,  and  catch- 
ing the  surface  of  a  tiny  pool  where  two  aquatic 
birds  are  resting.  A  charming  picture  is  the  one  en- 
titled "  A  Moonlight  Night,"  by  Schleich,  with  the 
moon  rising  over  a  gloomy  marsh.  "  Poppies,"  a 
richly-painted  cluster  of  leaves  and  flowers  by  Mary 
Bross,  is  another  very  fine  painting.  "  The  Evening 
Bell,"  by  Leisklow,  represents  a  landscape  fading 
away  into  the  gray  tints  of  twilight,  while  a  boat  is 
slowly  making  its  way  through  the  rippling  water. 
"  Scene  Outside  an  Osteria,"  in  Albino,  by  Raven- 
stein —  a  masterpiece  of  brilliant  coloring  —  with  a 
bevy  of  peasant  girls  dancing  to  the  music  which  a 
group  of  rustic  musicians  are  making.  "Autumn 
Evening"  is  merely  a  corner  in  a  forest,  glorified  by 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.  99 

the  setting  sun,  whose  reflected  rays  are  bringing 
out  the  tints  of  the  surrounding  foliage,  rocks  and 
branches. 

From  the  French  Gallery  I  will  only  mention  two 
pictures  that  made  a  deep  impression  upon  me.  One 
is  a  superb  painting  by  Rixens :  an  angel  clasping  a 
dead  musician  and  holding  aloft  a  crown  "of  laurel 
leaves,  while  the  music  sheets  have  fallen  forever 
from  the  nerveless  hand.  The  subject  is  treated  with 
great  power.  The  other  picture,  entitled  "Nor- 
mandy Pastures,"  by  Barillot,  I  regard  as  one  of  the 
best  animal  studies  in  the  Exhibition.  The  distinctive 
characteristic  of  this  picture  is  the  brilliant  atmos- 
pheric tint  which  lights  up  the  whole  canvas  and 
gains  its  full  measure  oi  effect  in  the  soft  shadow  on 
the  ground. 

But  enough  of  pictures.  I  only  look  at  a  few  each 
evening,  and  will  venture  a  word  of  advice  to  my 
Lynchburg  friends,  which  is  founded  upon  actual 
experience.  Don't  go  on  looking  at  a  succession  of 
pictures  until  your  eyes  are  pained  by  the  strain  upon 
them,  and  the  faculties  of  observation,  comparison 
and  criticism  are  wearied,  but  on  the  other  hand, 
study  a  few  attentively,  until  you  have  mastered 
their  subject,  sentiment,  spirit  and  style — all  they 
express  and  all  they  suggest,  until  an  accurate  and 
enduring  image  of 'them  has  impressed  itself  upon 
the  tablets  of  your  memory.  This  is  the  way  to  enjoy 
them  prospectively,  as  well  as  in  the  immediate 
present.  When  visiting  the  celebrated  galleries  of 


100         SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

Europe  remember  this,  and  you  will  find  my  advice 
worthy  of  consideration. 

Now  for  a  little  city  news,  and  I  am  done.  The 
good  ship  "  Gaiety,"  in  which  Melbourne  people  have 
been  pleasantly  voyaging  for  the  past  few  weeks,  has 
drifted  into  a  quiet  haven,  and  all  on  board  are  now 
anxious  for  the  rest  that  a  brief  respite  from  merry- 
making will  afford.  In  fact,  society  has  been  so 
gorged  with  fetes  of  pleasure  during  the  present  month 
that,  were  any  other  brilliant  entertainments  now  or- 
ganized, the  promoters  would  risk  the  chance  of 
being  socially  "  boycotted."  In  the  present  phase  of 
welcome  quietude,  afternoon  teas,  small  dinners  and 
theatre  parties  are  the  most  excessive  forms  of  pleas- 
urable dissipation,  where  little  exertion  is  necessary, 
and  the  yield  of  enjoyment  is  most  satisfactory. 
Afternoon  teas  at  the  Exhibition  have  become  a  most 
popular  institution,  and  during  the  past  week  many 
ladies  have  played  the  hostess  at  these  dainty  enter- 
tainments within  the  monster  show.  The  theatre 
parties  are  receiving  due  attention,  as  the  dress  cir- 
cles of  the  Princess  and  the  Bijou  theaters  nightly 
attest.  At  the  Bijou  on  Friday  evening,  amongst 
the  large  audience  there  were  none  who  so  thoroughly 
enjoyed  the  drolleries  of  "  The  Magistrate  "  as  the 
ladies  in  the  dress  circle. 

Miss  Essie  Jenyns,  a  native  Australian,  has  gained 
quite  an  enviable  reputation  as  an  actress.  She  will 
leave  for  England  in  a  few  weeks,  and  will  doubtless 
favor  the  States,  and  possibly  Lynchburg,  with  her 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         101 

presence  before  her  return  home.  There  was  an 
overflowing  and  most  enthusiastic  audience  at  the 
Princess  last  Saturday  evening  when  she  appeared  as 
Rosalind.  In  the  last  scene  she  wore  a  model  gown 
(Australian  for  dress)  of  soft,  white  material,  long 
train  and  wide  sleeves  lined  with  crimson  velvet. 
On  her  head  was  a  pearl  coronet,  and  diamond  orna- 
ments completed  an  outfit  in  which  Miss  Jenyns 
looked  quite  lovely.  Lady  Loch  and  the  Governor, 
Sir  Henry  Loch,  who  omit  no  opportunity  of  evincing 
their  interest  in  Miss  Jenyns,  accompanied  the  vice- 
regal party  to  the  Princess  to-night,  when  the  lovely 
actress — by  special  vice-regal  command — portrayed 
the  charming  wiles  and  ways  of  Parthenia,  the  Greek 
maiden.  My  friends  must  not  regard  me  as  stage- 
struck,  or  longing  for  a  closer  intimacy  with  colonial 
nobility.  I  merely  chanced  to  feel  in  this  vein,  hence 
the  above,  which  may  amuse  if  it  does  not  instruct. 

I  find  the  life  of  a  United  States  commissioner 
very  pleasant,  and  my  path  made  very  smooth  and 
comfortable,  yet  my  heart  longs  for  the  clasp  of  a 
true  friend's  hand — 

"  I  sigh  for  the  touch  of  a  distant  hand  and  the  sound  of  a 
voice  that  is  still." 


102        80UVENIE8  OF  TRAVEL. 


LETTER   XIX. 

THOUGHTS  OF  HOME  AND  FRIENDS — THE  ADVANTAGES  OF 
TRAVEL — THE  EXHIBITION  BUILDING  —  JAMES  WASH- 
INGTON— AN  INCORRIGIBLE  BACHELOR — SOME  REFLEC- 
TIONS ON  THE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  AUSTRALIA  AND 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 

MELBOURNE,  Oct.  3,  1888. 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

As  the  period  approaches  to  turn  our  faces  home- 
ward, memories  of  that  home  come  thronging  thick 
and  fast  upon  us.  How  often  during  the  last  few 
days  have  these  lines  occurred  to  me : 

"  How  brightly  gleams  the  orb  of  day 

Across  the  trackless  sea ; 
How  lightly  dance  the  waves  that  play 

Like  dolphins  on  our  lee. 
The  restless  waters  seem  to  say, 

In  smothered  tones  to  me, 
How  many  thousand  miles  away 

My  native  land  must  be. 

"  Speak,  ocean !  is  my  home  the  same  ? 

Now  all  is  new  to  me — 
The  tropic  sky's  resplendent  flame, 

The  vast  expanse  of  sea. 
Does  all  around  her,  yet  unchanged, 

The  well-known  aspect  wear  ? 
Oh,  can  the  leagues  that  I  have  ranged 

Have  made  no  difference  there?" 

How  often  have  I  asked  myself  the  question  :  Is  my 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         103 

home  the  same?  Will  I  soon  clasp  the  hand  and 
look  into  the  eyes  of  all  the  dear  friends  I  left  behind  ? 
One  dear  friend  I  know  is  gone  ;  than  whom  no  truer, 
better  friend  ever  lived  than  Tom  Kyle !  Will  I 
miss  others  on  my  return  ?  God  grant  it  may  not  be 
so.  This  dread  of  not  finding  our  dear  ones  on  our 
return  is  the  one  great  obstacle  to  the  pleasure  of 
travel.  That  travel  enlarges  the  mind,  produces 
clear-sightedness,  tolerance  and  sympathy,  and  tends 
to  refine  the  manners,  we  must  all  admit.  One  thing, 
however,  must  be  borne  in  mind  relative  to  travel, 
wherever  it  is-  indulged  in.  If  it  is  to  be  productive 
of  lasting  good,  the  traveler  must  have  something  to 
put  into  his  traveling  in  order  that  he  may  get  some- 
thing out  of  it.  There  are  travelers  who  have  eyes, 
but  they  see  not,  and  ears,  but  they  fail  to  hear  and 
understand ;  for  such  persons  travel  can  do  but  little. 
Travel  is  one  only  of  the  valuable  aids  to  culture, 
which  includes  also  reading,  reflection,  discussion  and 
conversation.  It  is  well  to  remember  that  without 
the  others,  the  teachings  of  travel  will  not  be  very 
efficacious,  and  that  it  is  of  importance,  not  only  that 
people  should  travel,  but  that  it  would  be  always 
best  that  they  should  be  such  persons  as  would  likely 
be  benefited  thereby. 

Touching  the  Exhibition  Building,  of  which  I  have 
heretofore  said  but  little  or  nothing,  I  will  give  you 
a  few  items  about  the  American  court  therein.  The 
commissioner's  office  is  a  handsome  room,  situated 
about  midway  of  the  main  aisle,  at  the  front  door  of 


104         SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

which  stood  a  tall,  strongly-built  negro,  as  black  as 
midnight,  his  dark  uniform,  elaborately  trimmed  with 
gold  lace,  only  serving  to  intensify  his  ebony  hue. 
James  Washington  is  his  name,  and  I  believe  he 
attracts  more  attention  than  any  exhibit  we  have. 
There  are  two  assistants,  also  dressed  in  blue  and 
gold ;  they  are  mulattoes,  and  all  three  came  from 
the  States.  Washington  is  about  sixty  years  old,  and 
worth,  I  am  informed,  $100,000  in  property.  I  asked 
him  if  he  was  married.  "  No,  sir ;  I  gits  trouble 
enough,  'dout  havin'  no  wife."  "  Don't  you  know  if 
you  marry  and  have  lots  of  trouble  you  will  be  ad- 
mitted in  Paradise  when  you  die,  as  you  will  have 
had  all  of  your  allotment  on  this  earth?"  "Well," 
said  James,  '  Dat's  a  new  doctrine  to  me,  Mr.  Miller, 
but  if  I  knowed  it  was  true  I  would  ruder  take  my 
chances  in  de  nex  world  dan  de  certainty  what  I 
would  hab  in  dis."  I  then  told  James  Washington 
it  was  a  Hindoo  doctrine,  and  as  some  of  our  Lynch- 
burg  friends  are  unacquainted  with  the  theory,  I 
give  them  the  story  as  illustrated  in  verse : 

A  Hindoo  died— a  blessed  thing  to  do 

When  twenty  years  united  to  a  shrew. 

Eeleased,  he  hopefully  for  entrance  cries 

Before  the  gates  of  Brahma's  paradise. 

"  Hast  been  through  purgatory  ?  "  Brahma  said. 

"  I  have  been  married  " — and  he  hung  his  head. 

"  Come  in,  come  in,  and  welcome  too,  my  son  ! 

Marriage  and  purgatory  are  as  one." 

In  bliss  extreme  he  entered  heaven's  door, 

And  knew  the  peace  he  ne'er  had  known  before. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         105 

He  scarce  had  entered  in  the  garden  fair, 

Another  Hindoo  asked  admission  there. 

The  self-same  question  Brahma  asked  again : 

"  Hast  been  through  purgatory  ?  "    "  No— what  then ! " 

"  Thou  cans't  not  enter !  "  did  the  God  reply. 

"  He  who  went  in  was  there  no  more  than  I." 

"All  that  is  true,  but  he  has  married  been, 

And  so  on  earth  has  suffered  for  all  sin." 

"Married?  'Tis  well,  for  I've  been  married  twice!" 

"  Begone !    We'll  have  no  fools  in  Paradise ! " 

.  Well,  I  started  to  say  something  about  the  Expo- 
sition, and  instead  skipped  over  to  India. 

There  ought  to  be  a  feeling  of  peculiar  sympathy 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States  of  America  towards 
the  Australian  colonies  on  the  occasion  of  those 
colonies  celebrating  their  centenary.  The  sympathetic 
feeling  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  towards 
Australia  ought  to  be  a  vital  emotion,  because  both 
countries  are  engaged  in  the  same  grand  work — that 
of  rearing  the  human  race  under  conditions  such  as 
have  never  before  been  known  in  the  history  of  this 
planet — under  the  absolute  liberty  of  the  people  and 
their  freedom  from  the  oppressions  of  governing 
classes  who,  in  less  happily  circumstanced  countries, 
have  so  often  plunged  the  people  into  wars  of  ag- 
gression, and  more  securely  bound  the  chains  of 
military  authority  around  them  at  the  very  time  their 
victims  supposed  themselves  to  be  patriotically  fight- 
ing for  their  country's  freedom,  or  at  least  for  their 
national  aggrandizement.  When  an  enlightened  peo- 
ple have  the  government  in  their  own  hands  there  is 


106         SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

little  fear  of  long-continued  war  ;  not  only  so,  but  one 
of  the  greatest  benefits  that  is  found  to  be  growing 
with  the  free  institutions  of  the  young  nations  of  the 
United  States  and  of  Australia  is  that  of  educational 
enlightenment.  The  United  States  is  the  only  country 
ever  known  in  the  history  of  the  world  that  has 
spent,  and  is  spending,  more  money  in  education 
than  on  armaments,  and  consequently  there  is  reason 
for  hope  that  the  people  will  in  the  future  increase 
the  national  wisdom,  and  by  means  of  general  edu- 
cation may,  in  the  language  of  Lord  Brougham,  be 
"Easy  to  lead,  but  hard  to  drive;  easy  to  govern, 
but  impossible  to  enslave." 

While  in  these  colonies,  as  in  the  United  States, 
the  people  are  learning  to  appreciate  their  privileges, 
to  maintain  their  rights,  and,  in  fact,  to  carry  out  the 
ideal  theory  of  governing,  so  as  to  afford  the  greatest 
happiness  to  the  greatest  number,  they  are  at  the 
same  time  making  a  progress  in  the  industrial  arts 
and  manufactures  that  is  simply  unparalleled  in  his- 
tory. One  of  the  advantages  which  result  from  free 
institutions  and  political  equality  is,  that  every  man, 
no  matter  what  country  may  have  given  him  birth, 
no  matter  what  his  origin  may  have  been,  nor  what 
his  color  is,  or  his  creed  may  be,  has  an  opportunity 
to  make  a  living  and  enjoy  it  in  comparative  comfort, 
happiness,  and  independence,  and  has  a  still  higher 
opportunity  by  the  exercise  of  honest  industry,  com- 
mercial talent  or  political  ability  to  become  a  leader 
amongst  his  fellows.  The  experience  of  the  United 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         107 

States  shows  that  such  freedom  and  equality  are 
wonderful  incentives  to  that  energetic  enterprise 
which  means  progress,  and  which  has  shown  in  the 
nineteenth  century  how  such  a  nation  can  almost 
spring  into  existence.  The  energy  and  enterprise  re- 
ferred to  are  among  the  most  admirable  results  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  though  it  is  possible 
that  it  does  not  arise  solely  from  the  liberal  constitu- 
tion of  the  country,  but  also  from  the  additional  fact 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States  are,  as  a  nation, 
necessarily  enterprising. 

Under  the  circumstances — that  it  is  the  example 
of  progress  set  by  the  United  States  that  Australia 
must  follow — it  is  a  matter  for  regret  that  the  repre- 
sentation of  that  great  country  at  the  Australian 
Centennial  Exhibition  is  not  more  complete.  What 
one  can  see  at  the  Exhibition  does  not  give  anything 
like  an  adequate  idea  of  the  importance  of  American 
manufactures.  But,  as  one  of  its  commissioners  truly 
remarked,  the  United  States  are  well  represented  in 
these  colonies  altogether  outside  of  the  Exhibition, 
and  with  some  great  ideas.  A  visitor  may  go  down 
from  his  apartment  at  his  hotel  in  an  American  ele- 
vator. He  will  travel  to  the  Exhibition  in  an  Ameri- 
can cable  tram  car.  He  will  pass  into  the  building 
through  an  American  patent  turn-stile,  and  he  will 
see  the  place  lighted  with  electric  lights,  which  an 
American  has  largely  assisted  in  perfecting.  Such 
appliances  as  sewing  machines  and  reapers  and  bind- 
ers, which  are  generally  used  throughout  the  country, 


108         SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

are  certainly  American  in  their  origin,  and  there  are 
numerous  similar  ideas  in  frequent  use  which  came 
from  that  country. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         109 


LETTER  XX. 

ADIEU  TO  AUSTRALIA — WHERE  THE  ORIENT  AND  OCCIDENT 
MEET — IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  COUNTRY — THE  ACME  OF 
DESOLATION — THE  MAORIS — NEW  ZEALAND  AND  SAMOA 
— MY  CHIEF'S  HEAD — GENIAL  OFFICERS,  ETC. 

S.  S.  "  ALAMEDA," 

SOUTHERN  PACIFIC  OCEAN,  Oct.,  1884. 

•i 
My  Dear  Boy  : 

This  letter  is  begun  at  Sydney,  N.  S.  W. ;  just 
where  it  will  be  completed  remains  for  the  future  to 
determine.  As  I  am  leaving  Australia,  perhaps  for- 
ever, my  impressions  of  the  country  may  not  be  in- 
appropriate in  this  place.  What  is  the  dominant 
characteristic  of  Australian  scenery?  is  a  natural 
enquiry  that  may  be  very  summarily  answered  as 
being  identical  with  the  dominant  character  of  our 
own  Edgar  Allen  Poe's  poetry,  viz :  "Weird  melan- 
choly." The  Australian  mountain  forests  are  fune- 
real, secret,  stern  ;  their  solitude  is  the  perfection  of 
desolation.  They  seem  to  stifle  in  the  black  gorges 
a  story  of  sullen  despair.  No  tender  sentiment  is 
nourished  in  their  shades.  In  other  lands  the  dying 
year  is  mourned ;  the  falling  leaves  drop  lightly  on 
his  bier.  In  the  Australian  forests  no  leaves  fall ; 
the  savage  winds  shout  among  the  rock  clefts. 
From  the  melancholy  gum,  strips  of  white  bark  hang 


110         SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

V 

grotesquely  or  ghostly.  Great  grey  kangaroos  hop- 
noiselessly  over  the  coarse  grass.  Flocks  of  white 
cockatoos  stream  out,  shrieking  like  evil  spirits.  The 
sun  suddenly  sinks  and  the  mopokes  burst  out  into 
horrible  peals  of  semi-human  laughter.  From  a 
corner  of  the  silent  forest  rises  a  dismal  chant,  and 
around  the  fire  dance  natives  painted  like  skeletons. 
All  is  fear-inspiring  and  gloomy.  Australia  has  been 
rightly  named  the  "  Land  of  the  Dawning."  Wrap- 
ped in  the  midst  of  an  early  morning  their  history 
looms  up  vague  and  gigantic.  The  lonely  horseman 
riding  between  the  moonlight  and  the  day  sees  vast 
shadows  creeping  across  the  shelterless  and  silent 
plains ;  hears  strange  noises  in  the  primeval  forest, 
where  flourishes  a  vegetation  long  dead  in  other 
lands.  There  is  a  poem  in  every  tree  and  flower, 
but  the  poetry  which  lives  in  the  trees  and  flowers 
of  Australia  differs  from  that  of  other  countries,  and 
makes  the  observer  feel  that  the  trim  utilization  that 
bred  him,  is  but  an  insignificant  atom  in  contrast  with 
the  grandeur  of  these  forests  that  are  coeval  with 
civilization  itself.  Europe  is  the  home  of  knightly 
song  and  gallant  deeds.  Asia  sinks  beneath  the 
weighty  recollection  of  her  past  grandeur  as  the 
"  Sattee  "  sinks,  jewel  burdened,  upon  the  corpse  of 
dead  magnificence,  distinctive  even  in  its  death. 
America  swiftly  hurries  on  her  way,  rapid,  glitter- 
ing, insatiable  even  as  one  of  her  own  gigantic  water- 
falls. From  the  jungles  of  Africa,  and  the  creeper- 
tangled  groves  of  the  South  Pacific  islands,  arise  from 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         Ill 

the  hearts  of  a  thousand  flowers  heavy  and  intoxicat- 
ing odors,  the  upas  poison  which  dwells  in  barbaric 
sensuality. 

In  Australia,  alone,  is  to  be  found  the  grotesque, 
the  weird,  the  strange  scribbling  of  nature  learning 
how  to  write.  Strangers  see  no  beauty  in  the  trees 
without  shade,  flowers  without  perfume,  birds  that 
cannot  fly  and  beasts  who  have  not  yet  learned^to 
walk  on  all  fours.  But  the  dwellers  in  this  strange 
country  acknowledge  the  subtle  charm  of  this  fantas- 
tic land  of  monstrosities ;  they  become  accustomed  to 
the  beauty  of  loneliness  whispered  to  by  the  myriad 
tongues  of  the  wilderness ;  he  hears  the  language  of 
the  barren  and  the  uncouth,  and  can  read  the  hyero- 
glyphics  of  haggard  gum-trees,  blown  into  odd  shapes, 
distorted  with  fierce,  hot  winds,  or  cramped  with  cold 
nights,  when  the  Southern  Cross  freezes  in  a  cloudless 
sky  of  icy  blue.  The  phantasmagoria  of  that  wild 
dreamland,  termed  "  the  bush,"  interprets  itself,  and 
the  poet  of  its  desolation  can  well  comprehend  why 
free  Esau  loved  his  heritage  of  desert  eand  better 
than  all  the  bountiful  richness  of  Egypt. 

Now  that  we  are  at  Auckland,  in  New  Zealand,  a 
few  additional  words  about  the  Maoris  may  not  be 
out  of  place.  From  all  I  can  learn  they  would  be 
glad  to  throw  off  the  English  yoke.  There  is  a  reser- 
vation on  the  North  Island  called  the  "  King's  Coun- 
try," where  the  great  bulk  of  the  natives  are  settled, 
and  into  which  no  white  man  can  enter  without  per- 
mission of  the  head  chief.  Yet,  strange  to  relate, 


112         SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

the  Mormon  from  Utah  has  been,  and  is  yet,  among 
these  people,  and  now  has  a  following  of  more  than 
3,000.  At  one  time  these  Mormons  seriously  con- 
templated leaving  their  country  to  settle  among  the 
Mormons  in  Utah.  They  were  doubtless  actuated, 
in  great  measure,  by  their  hatred  of  the  English. 
They  are  a  very  intelligent  people,  considering  their 
opportunities,  these  Maoris  ;  and  did  they  not  plainly 
see  the  futility  of  the  effort,  they  would  declare  war 
and  attempt  the  wresting  of  their  island  home  from 
the  clutch  of  the  invader.  Many  years  ago,  when  at 
war  with  the  English,  the  missionaries  were  warned 
to  leave.  One  of  them  declined  to  go  and  was  killed. 
The  body  was  laid  on  the  ground  in  front  of  the 
Mission  house  and  Chief  Keropa  collected  the  tribes 
around  it,  and  as  is  their  custom  as  also  their  great- 
est delight,  harangued  them,  speaking  with  great 
contempt  of  the  English.  Suddenly,  in  the  midst  of 
his  most  telling  abuse  of  the  enemy,  he  stooped  over 
the  body  of  the  murdered  preacher,  gouged  out  both 
of  the  eyes  and  ate  them,  saying,  "  Now  we  can  whip 
the  Pakehas."  The  latter  is  a  name  given  by  the 
Maoris  to  all  English-speaking  people. 

We  to  day  passed  Sunday  Island,  which  lies  about 
midway  between  New  Zealand  and  Samoa,  and  which 
has  a  very  curious  history.  The  island  is  about  three 
miles  wide  by  seven  long.  Many  years  ago  a  few 
Americans  left  Samoa  and  settled  on  this  island. 
They  made  attractive  homes  and  gathered  fine  crops 
from  the  fertile  soil.  Occasionally  a  whaling  fleet 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         113 

would  visit  them,  bringing  news  from  the  outside 
world  and  buying  their  surplus  crops,  etc.  Ten  or 
twelve  years  passed,  when  one  day  a  trading  vessel, 
plying  between  China  and  Peru,  stopped  at  the  island 
and  sent  ashore  several  boat  loads  of  coolies  and 
sailed  away.  The  horror  of  the  poor  islanders  can  be 
imagined  when  they  found  that  the  new  comers  were, 
without  an  exception,  suffering  from  small-pox.  In 
a  short  time  every  living  soul  had  the  disease.  Every 
Chinaman  died,  and  only  two  or  three  whites  were 
left  alive.  These  were  taken  by  a  passing  vessel  to 
Samoa,  and  for  years  the  island  was  uninhabited. 
The  next  settlers  were  Americans  from  Tutuila.  They 
had  just  gotten  settled  when  a  volcanic  eruption 
frightened  them  off.  Next  came  the  present  occu- 
pant, an  American  named  Bell.  His  family  consists 
of  a  wife  and  eight  or  nine  children,  most  of  them 
grown.  Twelve  or  fourteen  years  ago,  Bell  and  his 
wife  decided  to  take  possession  of  the  island,  and 
lead  a  sort  of  Swiss- Family-Robinson-Crusoe  life.  As 
their  children  grew,  and  others  were  born,  the  area 
of  cultivation  was  gradually  extended.  They  have 
never  evinced  any  desire  to  leave  their  island  home. 
A  few  years  ago  they  petitioned  our  government  to 
attach  it  to  the  United  States,  and  wrote  several 
times  to.  the  consul  at  Auckland,  N.  Z.,  urging  their 
request.  The  policy  of  our  government  being  adverse 
to  acquiring  more  territory,  Bell  failed  in  his  effort. 
But  Great  Britain,  as  we  all  know,  has  a  very  decided 
talent  for  acquiring  every  little  speck  of  land  any- 


114         SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

where  and  everywhere  she  can,  so  New  Zealand  was 
instructed  to  gobble  up  poor  Bell's  island,  which  she 
very  promptly  proceeded  to  do.  They  marked  off  a 
paltry  five  hundred  acres,  for  which  they  gave  "  Cru- 
soe "  Bell  a  deed,  and  threw  the  remainder  open  for 
settlement. 

As  we  are  within  a  short  run  of  the  Samoan 
Islands,  I  may  be  pardoned  for  referring  to  the  much- 
talked-of  and  very  queer  bargain  and  sale  of  that 
country  that  occurred  between  England  and  Ger- 
many. This  transaction  aroused  considerable  feeling 
in  Australia,  New  Zealand  and  the  United  States, 
and  some  very  pertinent  questions  were  asked  by  the 
colonies,  which  brought  out  the  following  facts  : 
Samoa  lies  right  in  the  middle  of  the  track  from 
Australia  and  New  Zealand  to  Vancouver's  Island 
and  San  Francisco.  Seven  years  ago,  England,  Ger- 
many and  the  United  States  made  a  treaty  with  the 
King  of  Samoa,  by  which  they  agreed  to  maintain 
him  on  his  throne,  the  property  of  Europeans  to  be 
protected  by  a  court  consisting  of  the  consuls  of  the 
three  powers ;  it  was  further  agreed  that  neither  of 
the  powers  should  annex  the  islands.  That  being 
the  condition  of  things,  people  were  much  puzzled 
at  what  took  place  in  August,  1887.  King  Malietoa 
had  strictly  kept  all  his  engagements  ;  he  had  ruled 
his  people  well  ;  the  islands  were  prospering,  and  a 
large  amount  of  trade  was  being  done  with  them, 
English  influence  being  mainly  predominant.  In 
August,  1887,  five  German  war  vessels  sailed  into  the 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         115 

harbor  of  Apia,  landed  six  hundred  armed  men,  and 
without  premonition  or  a  syllable  of  explanation  to 
the  English  consul,  carried  off  this  native  king,  who 
was  in  treaty  relations  with  England,  and  transported 
him  seven  thousand  miles  to  the  Cameroons,  on  the 
west  coast  of  Africa.  They  then  proceeded  to  declare 
the  arrangement  whereby  three  consuls  had  the  di- 
rection of  affairs  at  Samoa  at  an  end,  and  appointed 
a  vice-king,  with  a  German  prime  minister,  so  that 
the  whole  direction  of  Samoan  affairs  was  now  in  the 
hands  of  Germany,  and  that  in  face  of  the  fact  that 
only  twelve  or  eighteen  months  ago  fifty-four  out  of 
the  fifty-seven  native  chiefs  petitioned  England  to 
annex  the  island,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  afraid 
of  the  Germans,  and  protested  against  German  an- 
nexation. The  point  was  that  all  this  was  done  in 
defiance  of  the  treaty.  As  far  as  was  known,  the 
Germans  had  obtained  no  sanction  for  this  violation 
of  treaty  engagements,  and  the  English  consul  very 
properly  issued  a  protest  and  had  it  placarded,  to  the 
effect  that  the  English  government  did  not  recognize 
the  new  king  whom  the  Germans  had  set  up,  but 
would  continue  to  recognize  the  king  whom  they  had 
taken  prisoner.  Nothing  happened  as  a  result  of  this 
protest  of  the  English  consul,  except  that  two  months 
afterwards  it  was  withdrawn,  and  the  Germans  were 
allowed  to  do  as  they  pleased. 

Towards  the  close  of  1886,  when  England  was  in 
trouble  in  Egypt  and  their  relations  with  some  of 
the  European  powers  were  strained,  they  resigned 


116         SOUVENIRS  OF  1RAVEL. 

their  rights  in  Samoa  to  the  German  government  with 
the  understanding  that  they  were  not  to  be  interfered 
with  in  Egypt.  They  did  this,  not  only  without  in- 
forming the  United  States  and  the  Australian  colo- 
nies until  months  later,  but  absolutely  without 
informing  their  own  consul  at  Samoa.  So  that  this 
unhappy  man,  whose  duty  it  was  to  carry  out  the 
views  of  the  English  government,  and  who  protested 
against  what  he  regarded  as  a  violation  of  interna- 
tion^al  law,  found  himself  in  an  unenviable  predica- 
ment when  he  obtained  information  in  September  of 
last  year,  nine  months  "  behind  the  fair,"  that  the 
English  government  had  agreed  to  the  action  of  the 
Germans  nine  months  before  he  received  any  instruc- 
tions whatever.  They  had  sacrified  the  natives  of 
these  islands  to  a  rule  which  they  detested ;  they 
had  seen  a  king,  whom  they  had  vowed  to  protect, 
seized  and  transported  to  a  distance  of  7,000  miles  not 
only  without  a  word  of  protest,  but  with  at  least  an 
implied  consent,  and  in  return  they  had  received 
absolutely  nothing  save  a  promise  that  they  should 
not  be  interfered  with  in  Egypt,  while  the  Egyptian 
campaign  had  gained  nothing  for  England  except  the 
obligation  of  paying  an  enormous  bill  and  the  privi- 
lege of  leaving  the  country  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment.  Two  months  ago  the  Malatea  party  threw 
off  the  German  yoke  and  war  was  commenced 
between  them  and  the  adherents  of  the  vice-king 
and  his  German  prime  minister.  Germany  stands 
idly  by  and  sees  the  poor  natives  kill  each  other. 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         117 

Up   to  this  writing  they  have  had  several  bloody 
fights,  and  the  end  is  not  yet. 

There  is  a  fleet  of  six  whaling  ships  cruising  about 
in  these  waters,  and  I  understand  they  are  making 
money.  Owing  to  the  low  price  at  which  whale  oil 
is  now  selling,  no  effort  is  made  to  save  it.  When  a 
whale  is  captured  the  head  is  cut  off  and  taken  aboard, 
from  which  the  bones  are  then  taken,  the  body  being 
allowed  to  go  adrift.  A  good-sized  head  will  yield 
about  $4,000. 

Speaking  of  heads  reminds  me  of  one  I  have  hang- 
ing in  my  saloon,  just  opposite  my  berth.  While  in 
Auckland  I  found  in  a  "  curio  shop  "  the  head  of  a 
Mario  chief  who  was  killed  in  battle  on  the  Waikato 
river.  After  much  haggling,  I  bought  it  at  a  very 
high  price  and  brought  it  aboard,  tied  a  string  around 
it  and  hung  it  from  the  ceiling  of  my  room,  where  it 
bows  continuously  to  me  with  every  roll  of  the  ship. 
When  John  came  aboard  and  walked  into  our  cabin, 
my  chief  made  him  a  very  polite  bow.  "Why  don't 
you  return  the  gentleman's  courtesy  ?"  I  asked  him. 
"  What  do  you  propose  to  do  with  that  horrible 
thing?"  John  answered.  "Why,  take  it  home  to 
my  wife  and  babies,"  I  replied.  "Well,"  says  John, 
"  you  will  occupy  this  cabin  alone  or  put  that  grin- 
ning skull  out  of  sight."  So,  to  please  the  old  fellow 
1  put  a  traveling  cap  on  my  chief's  head,  tied  a  silk 
scarf  under  his  chin,  and  he  would  look  very  respect- 
able if  he  didn't  stare  a  fellow  so  completely  out  of 
countenance,  and  would  only  change  the  set  grin  he 


118         SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

has  acquired  from  years  of  solitary  musing  over  the 
fat  missionaries   he  has  eaten.     In  a  closet   at  the 
head  of  our  bed  I  have  a  number  of  bows,  arrows, 
spears  and  war  clubs  used  by  the  Fiji  Islanders  and 
Maoris.     Last  night  the  sea  became  very  rough,  and 
about  midnight  I  heard  a  most  infernal  racket  going 
on  in  the  closet.     I  called  to  John  to  know  what  was 
the  matter.     "  You  ought  to  know,"  he  said  ;  "  it  is 
that  old  Maori  chief  of  yours.     I  saw  by  a  flash  of 
lightning  that  he  had  taken  his  head  down,  and  now 
he  is  skirmishing  around  in  the  closet  after  his  club, 
spear,  etc."     I  jumped  up  and  felt  for  my  skull.     It 
was  gone.     I  couldn't  find  a  match,  so  I  commenced 
to  feel  around  with  my  foot.     Suddenly  I  jabbed  my 
big  toe  into  something  that  would  not  let  go,  and  I 
commenced  to  yell  and  dance  around,  call  for  the 
steward  and  kick  up  Jack  generally.     When  light 
was  finally  brought,  I  had  dropped  on  the  cabin  floor 
from   sheer  weakness  and  fright,  and  my  toe  was 
tightly  jammed  in  the  mouth  of  the  old  cannibal 
chief,  who,  true  to  his  hereditary  instincts,  was  try- 
ing to  make  a  meal  of  me  after  his  long  fast.     This 
morning  I  secured  a  number  of  sheets  of  strong  paper 
and  wrapped  the  old  savage's  head  up,  eyes,  mouth 
and  all,  and  tied  about  100  yards  of  strong  twine  all 
over  him.     This  will  keep  him  quiet,  I  hope. 

The  contrast  between  the  captain  and  officers  of 
the  Alameda — which  is  the  Commodore's  ship — and 
the  officers  of  the  Mariposa,  the  ship  we  went  out  in, 
is  so  marked  that  it  has  been  commented  on  in  my 


SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL.         119 

presence  on  numerous  occasions.  Captain  Morse,  of 
the  Alameda,  is  the  jolliest,  kindest-hearted  gentle- 
man I  ever  sailed  with.  His  cabin  is  open  at  all 
times  to  the  passengers,  and  any  information  desired 
is  cheerfully  given.  No  one  on  the  ship  is  shown 
any  sort  of  preference,  and  everything  is  done  to 
render  the  long  voyage  pleasant.  The  Captain's 
hearty,  infectious  laugh  can  be  heard  at  every  meal, 
and  all  over  the  large  dining  saloon.  On  the  Mariposa 
things  were  quite  different.  The  Captain  was  doubt- 
less a  good  officer,  but  I  don't  think  the  comfort  or 
pleasure  of  the  passengers  concerned  him  much ;  as 
for  John  and  myself,  we  had  seats  at  his  table  and 
one  of  the  two  best  staterooms  on  the  ship,  and  were 
consequently  among  the  favored  few.  We  found  the 
officers,  with  two  exceptions,  the  chief  engineer  and 
chief  officer  Hart,  a  gruff  lot.  All  seemed  to  be  suf- 
fering from  the  same  disease  that  had  attacked  the 
Captain,  i.  e.,  "  the  big  head."  An  indignation  meet- 
ing was  talked  of  on  account  of  the  doctor's  perfect 
indifference  and  neglect  of  the  sick.  Mr.  W.,  quite 
a  noted  tragedian  from  Chicago,  vowed  vengeance 
against  the  M.  D.  for  his  neglect  of  his  wife,  who  was 
suffering  greatly  during  almost  the  entire  trip.  It  is 
very  unpleasant  to  have  to  write  such  disagreeable 
things  about  any  one,  particularly  about  "  the  bridge 
that  has  carried  me  safely  over  the  dangerous  chasm," 
yet  I  can  truthfully  say  I  would  lay  over  a  month 
rather  than  take  this  long  trip  by  the  Mariposa,  and 
would  lay  over  two  months  to  go  by  the  Alameda. 


120         SOUVENIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 

Captain  Morse,  of  the  last-named  vessel,  is  a  true, 
genial  gentleman  in  the  best  sense  of  that  word. 

Among  our  passengers  is  Mr.  Campbell,  United 
States  consul  at  Auckland,  New  Zealand.  He  is  on 
his  way  home  on  leave  of  absence.  It  will  be  grati- 
fying to  all  good  Democrats  to  know  that  this,is 
another  case  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  correct  judgment  in 
putting  the  right  man  in  the  right  place.  Mr.  Camp- 
bell has  proved  himself  not  only  a  first-class  official, 
but  a  very  popular  gentleman  with  the  people.  We 
have  on  board  a  part  of  the  London  Gaiety  troupe, 
consisting  of  six  ladies,  four  gentlemen,  and  four  ser- 
vants. They  did  a  good  business  in  Australia,  play- 
ing "Esmeralda"  and  "Monte  Cristo."  I  hardly  think 
they  will  do  well  in  the  United  States,  as  it  is  what 
is  known  as  a  "  leg  show,"  and  our  people  have  about 
had  a  surfeit  of  shows  of  that  character.  Miss  Nellie 
Farron  and  Mr.  Fred.  Leslie  are  quite  clever  in  their 
way,  but  the  jokes  which  our  Australian  cousins  ap- 
preciated will  scarcely  be  appreciated  on  our  side  of 
the  water  as  being  at  all  funny.  There  are  two  pretty 
good  dancers  in  the  company,  Misses  Linn  and  Grey. 
Judging,  however,  from  their  conversational  powers, 
we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  they  have  culti- 
vated their  heels  by  sadly  neglecting  their  heads. 
The  quantities  of  stout  champagne  and  other  strong 
drink  these  ladies  consume  is  something  marvelous 
to  an  American. 

The  Oceanic  Steamship  Company,  owned  by  Messrs. 
Spreckles  &  Brother,  of  San  Francisco,  consists  of  a 


80UVENIE8  OF  TRAVEL.         121 

fleet  of  four  steamers  of  three  thousand  tons  each. 
The  Alaineda — flag  ship — Mariposa  and  Zealandia, 
run  from  San  Francisco  to  Sydney,  touching  at  Hono- 
lulu, Samoa  and  Auckland.  The  Australia  plies  be- 
tween San  Francisco  and  Honolulu.  The  sister  ships 
Alameda  and  Mariposa,  built  by  Clapp  of  Philadel- 
phia, cost  $500,000  each  ;  the  Zealandia  and  Australia, 
co*>t  $250,000  each.  They  were  bought  from  an  op- 
position line.  The  cost,  per  ship,  of  a  round  trip  to 
Sydney  and  return,  is  $50,000  Each  ship  makes 
four  trips  a  year.  We  will  estimate  the  passenger 
receipts  at  $20,000,  and  freight  at  $20,000  per  round 
trip,  i.  e.,  San  Francisco  to  Sydney  and  back  to 
"  Frisco,"  in  all  three  months.  They  are  paid  a  sub- 
sidy by  New  South  Wales  and  New  Zealand  of  £32,- 
000,  or  $150,000,  and  are  allowed  all  the  postage  by 
our  government  on  mail  matter  carried  by  them, 
which  amounts  to  about  $50,000  per  year.  The  life 
of  an  ocean  steamer  is  from  ten  to  fiiteen  years. 
Taking  this  into  consideration,  together  with  the 
original  cost  of  the  "  plant,"  Messrs.  Spreckels  haven't 
a  very  paying  investment  in  this  line. 

First-class  passage  from  "Frisco"  to  Sydney  is 
$200 ;  steerage,  $100.  The  Alameda  and  Mariposa 
are  by  far  the  best  for  first  class  passengers,  while  the 
Zealandia  and  Australia  are  much  the  best  for  steer- 
age, as  they  were  originally  fitted  for  only  first-class 
and  second-class,  and  the  steerage  now  occupies  the 
second-class  accommodations. 

-30S3- 


